Sovereignty and the nation state Flashcards
Whats the definition of a state
- set of institutions + related personnel
- centrality - political decisions emanating from center
- defined boundary of territory
- monopoly of coercive power and law-making ability
Whats the definition for a nation
- named human population
- sharing common historic territory
- common myths, historical memories, public culture, economy, legal rights and duties
Before the nation- state:
People (communities e.g. statuses of hierarchy) and institutions (kings, church, city states, empires..) before the nation-state
Why did states appear
- to extract resources for war
- bureaucracies and political institutions
- offer protection -> build bureaucracies to organize income (taxes) (Tilly)
Why did territorial states appear
- city states: good at making money ; not good armies
- empires: inefficient economy ; great armies
- hence, alternative = territorial states
What are the 3 points in the slow emergence of the nation-state?
- Myth of Westphalia
- Permanence of transnationalism
- Violent territorialisation of nations
What does the myth of westphalia entail in terms of the nation state?
- modern IR theory
- principal of sovereignty
- “cuius regio eius religio” - whose realm, whose religion
What does the permanence of transnationalism bring to the nation state concept
- contradiction to myth of westphalia
- transnational elites (European Royal Family Tree) - kings and queens
- European colonial domination
- circulation of people - migration
What does the violent territorialisation of nations bring to the nation-state concept
- territorial homogenisation of nations
- invention of the passport
- nationalisation of the minds
- violent project to divide national vs. international
What are the 4 types of sovereignty?
- domestic sovereignty
- interdependence sovereignty
- international legal sovereignty
- westphalian sovereignty
What is domestic sovereignty?
actual control over a state exercised by an authority organized within the state
What is interdependence sovereignty?
actual control of movement accross state borders, assuming borders exist
What is international legal sovereignty
formal recognition by other sovereign states
What is westphalian sovereignty
lack of other (non-domestic church, non-domestic political organization) authority over state other than the domestic authority
Do transnational flows pre-exist the nation-state
Yes. And they shape the nation-state
