The Nation State
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The Nation State An Essay by Anthony C. Pick Dedication This essay is dedicated to the memory of Irene Pick (1939-2007). Acknowledgements The author acknowledges with gratitude the help that he has received from Simon Pick and Matthew Pick, without which many errors and omissions would have occurred. 2016 Copyright © Anthony C. Pick 1/113 2016 The Nation State: An Essay Summary Summary .................................................................................................................................................. 3 The Nation State ....................................................................................................................................... 6 The Significance of the Nation State: International Peace ....................................................................... 6 The Significance of the Nation State: The Growth of Democracy ........................................................... 8 The Significance of the Nation State: Social and Economic Development ............................................ 11 Precursors of the Nation State ................................................................................................................ 16 Precursors of the Nation State: The Personal State ................................................................................ 16 Precursors of the Nation State: Theocracy ............................................................................................. 19 Precursors of the Nation State: Oligarchy .............................................................................................. 22 Precursors of the Nation State: City State .............................................................................................. 25 Precursors of the Nation State: Territorial Empire ................................................................................. 29 Precursors of the Nation State: Trading Empire ..................................................................................... 33 Precursors of the Nation State: The Military State ................................................................................. 36 Precursors of the Nation State: The Tribal State .................................................................................... 37 Development of the Nation State ............................................................................................................ 40 Phase I: Consolidation of the Personal or Imperial State ....................................................................... 41 Phase II: Transfer of Legitimacy to the Nation ...................................................................................... 44 Phase III: Establishment of Constitutional Legitimacy .......................................................................... 47 The Development of Individual Nation States: 15th to 18th Centuries .................................................... 50 Switzerland, Netherlands, Scotland, England, United States, France ..................................................... 50 The Development of Individual Nation States: 19th Century.................................................................. 53 Sweden, Spain, Norway, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, Hungary, Denmark, Romania, Italy, Canada, Japan, Germany, Iceland, Bulgaria, Costa Rica ..................................................................................... 53 The Development of Individual Nation States: 1900-1933 .................................................................... 60 Australia, Finland, Iran, Argentina, Russia, Uruguay, Czech Republic, Poland, the Baltic States, Mongolia, Ireland, Turkey, Thailand, Mexico, Colombia ...................................................................... 60 The Development of Individual Nation States: 1934-1966: ................................................................... 67 Philippines, Chile, Panama, Ecuador, Malta, Jamaica, Albania, Austria, Macedonia, Brazil, Jordan, Malaysia, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, Israel, Bolivia, Egypt, Morocco, Vietnam, Peru, Tunisia, Venezuela, Korea, Ghana, Botswana, Algeria, Kenya, Singapore .................................. 67 The Development of Individual Nation States: 1967-1999 .................................................................... 81 Mauritius, Nigeria, Honduras, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cyprus, Guatemala, Uganda, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Namibia, South Africa, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Slovenia, Croatia, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Cambodia, Nepal, Zambia, Mali, Gabon, Slovakia, El Salvador, Eritrea, Malawi, Tanzania, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti ........................................................................................................................................................ 81 The Development of Individual Nation States: 2000 Onwards .............................................................. 94 Senegal, Sierra Leone, Georgia, Liberia, Maldives, Iraq, Lebanon, Montenegro, Serbia, Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire ................................................................................................................................................... 94 Non-Nation States ................................................................................................................................ 100 Afghanistan, Bosnia Herzegovina, Burma, Kazakhstan, Libya, Madagascar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Zimbabwe ...................................................................................................... 100 Copyright © Anthony C. Pick 2/113 2016 The Nation State: An Essay Summary Summary A state is a territorial political community for which there is an independent organised Government. A nation state is a state whose primary loyalty is to a cultural self-identity, which we call a nation or nationality, and is now the predominant form of state organisation. Nation states possess sovereignty and legitimacy. The significance of the nation state is that, once consolidated around a particular nationality, it is a stable form of state organisation. It is the sole form in which the growth of democracy is possible and which does not have a tendency to expand its territory. This stable environment proved to be essential for the emergence of modern financial, industrial and technological civilisation in Western Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. The only historic competitors were imperial China, which was technologically highly innovative but did not become an industrial society until modern times, and the early Islamic Caliphate, which was also technologically and culturally innovative but was conquered by military and tribal states and then declined. Until nation states appeared in the 16th and 17th century, government was by rulers whose authority did not derive from the people whom they ruled, who were termed their “subjects”. States ruled in that way had seven different forms, personal rule, theocracy, city state, oligarchy, military state, tribal state, and empire. The principal function of such a ruler was to achieve peace and order, by judging disputes and enacting laws by which disputes could be avoided. This could only be performed if his (rarely, her) authority did not derive from his subjects, and to reinforce that authority the concept of legitimacy arose, which defined a right to rule independently of any constitutional system. Legitimacy had to be certain in order to be effective, and a disputed legitimacy was undesirable and might give rise to civil war. Personal rule was the usual first form of state organisation, almost always realised by a hereditary dynasty. It was generally supported by a religious sanction, historically the normal source of morality. Theocracies arose when religious authority became stronger than personal rule, although the two might be combined. City states arose in Europe, also when personal rule was weak, in order to exploit the added value obtainable by trade. Before the added value from trade and industry was available to states, the only form of wealth was the surplus obtainable from agriculture. Personal states therefore had an inherent tendency to seek to extend their territories, by conquest, inheritance, or other means, and in this way territorial empires arose. In some states, the army gained control of its own recruitment and promotion and set up an independent military caste, which we call military rule. In some states with a pastoral hinterland, pastoral tribes established a form of tribal government, also generally supported by a religious sanction. Although the core of most territorial empires were personal states, they have also been theocracies, city states, military states, and tribal states. All such pre-national forms of government were inconsistent with constitutional rule. The establishment of a nation state entailed the transfer of legitimacy from a ruler not accountable to those he ruled to one accountable to the nation. This arose as the development of wealth from improved agriculture, trade, and industry created a civil society. The civil society sought a communal identity, through language, religion, common social organisations, and shared experiences and interests, and thus became a nation. We can identify three phases in the development of each nation state. Phase I was the development of a nationality within a clearly defined pre-national state. Phase II was the transfer of legitimacy from the ruler to the nation, by some form of rebellion against the ruler