Author: Haroon Khalil

The nation-state has all the attributes of the State—population, territory, government and sovereignty. People comprising a nation become the sole source of legitimacy from which the State derives its legitimacy. This means that the State has legitimacy and acceptance of all the constituent groups within its boundary. Moreover, the territorial integrity of the State is…

If we can attempt to understand what constitutes the modern State or what could be the reference points that would qualify a State to be a nation-state notwithstanding our three categories, let us consider the following. The nation as the basis of the state The modern State has its population organized on the basis of…

An understanding of the relationship between the Nation and the State must confront with two different trends—first, nationalities seeking their states; and second, politically or administratively demarcated states seeking and creating nations for themselves. In the latter case, political sovereignty is considered as contributing to the strengthening of nationalities/nation-building. This duality of relationships between ‘the Nation’ and ‘the State’…

By the late nineteenth century, the political doctrine of the right of self-determination based on nationality gained weight. After the First World War, Woodrow Wilson advocated the doctrine of right of self-determination as the basic principle of reorganizing the Austro-Hungarian, the German and the Ottoman empires. It was based on the principle that every group…

The term nation-state signifies that the State is organized on the basis of nationhood. During the rise of absolutism, a consolidation of territories took place. This brought diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups into the fold of centralized absolutist States. Before the eighteenth century, the concept of nationalities was not clearly recognized. Lord Acton, in…

In Europe, between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, feudalism was in crisis and the Renaissance gave rise to a new form of human enlightenment and doctrine of human destiny. The emerging scientific and liberal modes of enquiry were discrediting the claims of the Church on the lives of individuals. Feudal-agrarian relations were giving way to…

With the decline of the Roman Empire, centralized authority was eroded and led to an era of what many have called ‘feudal anarchy’.22 A politico-economic system based on the hierarchical relationship of patronage emerged in Europe. This system of hierarchical patronage created a chain of pyramidal dependencies starting from the ruler or lord. The latter gave loyal…

Rome initially emerged as a powerful city-state and subsequently spread to become a large empire. The authority of the emperor was understood in terms of the conception of dominium, which meant the right of ownership of land and people connected with it. Unlike the other city-states, which were democratized, the Roman Empire gave birth to…

In the Western hemisphere, the emergence of the Greek city-states heralded the era of the State. The earliest form is recognized as the city-states between 800 BC and 500 BC. By and large, the Greek city-states were organized on the basis of the earliest forms of democracy—’direct democracy’ with direct participation of the people. Subsequently,…

The State is a historical phenomenon—it emerged in a particular stage in history. Prior to the emergence of the State, there were primitive forms of social organizations, which lacked definite forms of political authority. We can call this stage the stage of ‘stateless societies’ where no territorial allegiance existed nor was any centralized authority.18 Though many writers…