The
nation state is a certain form of
state that gets its
legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a
political and
geopolitical entity; the nation is a
cultural and/or
ethnic entity. The term "nation state" implies that they geographically coincide, and this distinguishes the nation state from the other types of state, which historically preceded it. If successfully implemented, this implies that the
citizens share a common language, culture, and values — which was not the case in many historical states. A
world of nation states also implements the claim to
self-determination and
autonomy for every nation, a central theme of the
ideology of
nationalism. (For ambiguities in the usage of terms such as nation, international, state, and country, see
Nation).
In some cases, the geographic boundaries of an ethnic population and a political state largely coincide. In these cases, there is little immigration or emigration, few members of ethnic minorities, and few members of the "home" ethnicity living in other countries.
Both Iceland and Japan are island nations. Portugal, curiously, is not an island and is surrounded by other historic nations in Europe.
The notion of a "national identity" also extends to countries which host multiple ethnic or language groups. For example, Switzerland is constitutionally a confederation of cantons, and has four official languages, but it has also a 'Swiss' national identity, a national history, and a classic national hero, Wilhelm Tell. [1]
