Relation of Nation and State and Nation-State

Relation of Nation and State and Nation-State.

Definitions according to G.P. Nielsson (1985) 'States and "nation- groups": a global taxonomy' in E.A. Tiryakian and R. Rogowski (editors) New Nationalisms of the Developed West. Allen & Unwin. London.

$ Nation-states: Those states where > 60% of the population are from a single ethnic group. There are 2 main types:

$ Part-nation-states: those states where the ethnic group is dispersed across several states. The best example is the Arab nation which dominates 17 nation-states. Overall, there are 52 cases. Egypt and Syria as well as the two Koreas are typical examples.

$ Single-nation-states: States where a single ethnic group dominates only one state. On a few occasions, the ethnic group contributes 90-95% or more of the population. There are 23 examples. Iceland, Japan, and Somalia are typical examples. It is more common that one ethnic group dominates but not to the extreme degree of the previous examples. There are 32 cases of 60-90% domination by a single ethnic group. Examples are Britain, Sri

1 Lanka, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe, and the United States.

$ Non-nation-states: Those states where there is no single ethnic group that has 60% of the state's population. These can be divided into 3 types:

$ Intermediate non-nation- states: Occurs where there is a single dominant ethnic group in a state but it constitutes only about half the population (40 - 60%). The former USSR, the Philippines and Sudan are examples.

$ Bi-nation-states: Occurs where 2 ethnic groups provide a combined percentage of a state's population of over 65%. Examples are Belgium, Peru and Fiji.

$ Multi-nation-states: Occurs where there is a high degree of ethnic fragmentation. India, Malaysia and Nigeria are typical examples.

2 $ Some of the current states with political devolutionary pressures caused by nationalism such as Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) would be classified as an average nation-state because 63% of the population is Serbian. However, there is a local concentration of Albanians in Kosovo, which is 14% of the total population but 92% of the Kosovo population. $ Thus, the definition of nation-state alone is insufficient to account for political stability. $ Similarly, Bosnia and Herzegovina would be classified as a bi-nation-state with Bosnian Muslims constituting 40% of the population and Serbians 32%, while Croats are 18% of the population. $ Macedonia would be classified as a nation-state with 67% of the population being ethnic Slavic Macedonian. Albanians are 20% of the total Macedonian population but again, are highly concentrated in the western province where they constitute a majority. $ Hence, the above rules do not confer a deterministic relationship between ethnic fragmentation and political instability. $ The geography and historical expression of ethnic experience and current political status are also significant factors.

3 $ Non-national states have a geographical pattern. $ The two continents with the oldest modern states, Europe and the Americas, have the most single- nation states. $ Part-nation-states are most common in Asia, which reflects a fragmentation of the large geographical range of their nations. $ Multination-states and bi-nation-states are most common in Africa, reflecting the arbitrary boundaries imposed on the continent in the colonial division. $ There is a dearth of multination states in Europe reflecting the dismantling after the World War I. $ As a result, according to Nielsson's classification, the majority of states are nation-states of one type or another. $ The non-nation states are susceptible to nationalist challenges from within their boundaries. $ Governments in these states must be sensitive to the needs of the range of ethnic groups in their territory (See G. Gottlieb's paper: Nations Without States). However, given the loose definition of nation-state, it is likely that there are many cases where important minority ethnic groups reside in the single-nation- state category and it is in these states that some of the main examples of 'ethnic resurgency' have been found in recent years (e.g., Yugoslavia).