Though if not noticed closely the words Nation, State and Country look alike, there are a lot of differences between them.
Country and State are synonymous terms that both apply to self-governing political entities. A nation, however, is a group of people who share the same culture but do not have sovereignty.
To have a better picture of these terms, the terms are defined below-
State–
A State is an independent, sovereign government exercising control over a certain spatially defined and bounded are, whose borders are usually clearly defined and internationally recognized by other state. When the ‘s’ of state is in lowercase, it constitutes a part of a whole country, such as the different states of the United States of America. When the ‘S’ of State is uppercase it signifies an independent country.
A State with its own institution and populations has its permanent population, territory, and government. It also has all the rights and capacity to make treaties and other agreements with other states.
Qualities of a State –
- Space or territory that has internationally recognized boundaries
- People who live there on an ongoing basis
- Regulations governing foreign and domestic trade
- The ability to issue legal tender that is recognized across boundaries
- An internationally recognized government that provides public services and police power and has the right to make treaties, wage war, and take other actions on behalf of its people
- Sovereignty, meaning that no other state should have power over the country’s territory
Nation-
A nation is a group of people who see themselves as a cohesive and coherent unit based on shared cultural or historical criteria. Nations are socially constructed units, not given by nature. Their existence, definition, and members can change dramatically based on circumstances. Nations in some ways can be thought of as “imagined communities” that are bound together by notions of unity that can pivot around religion, ethnic identity, language, cultural practice and so forth.
Some nations are also sovereign states, but not all. Experts have also found that there exist some non-sovereign states which govern no territory at all. When a nation of people have an independent state of their own it is called a nation state.
Example- All Jewish people comprise a Jewish nation, which is not a state, but Israel is a State.
Country-
The word country can be used to mean the same thing as state, sovereign state, or nation-state. It can also be used in a less political manner to refer to a region or cultural area that has no governmental status.
The United States can be referred to as either a ‘Country’ or a ‘State.’ People use the terms interchangeably. However, in political science, and especially in the area of international relations, the term ‘State’ is used as it is more precise and less ambiguous, as ‘country’ can refer to other things, such as a rural environment.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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