There is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes a state. In general, the things that a state must have are primarily political in nature, rather than legal. During World War I, the Czechs and the Poles were considered to be separate states, despite the fact that neither country had yet achieved statehood. L.C. Green provided an explanation for this by stating that “recognition of statehood is a matter of discretion, and it is open to any existing state to accept as a state any entity it wishes,” regardless of whether or not the entity in question possessed territory or an established government.
Scholar of nation-states and nationalism Anthony Smith is widely considered to be one of the most influential academics in this field. argued that a state is only a nation-state if and when it is inhabited by a single ethnic and cultural population, and the boundaries of that state are coextensive with the boundaries of that ethnic and cultural population; in other words, a state cannot be a nation-state under any other circ*mstances. This is an extremely narrow definition that presupposes the existence of the model known as “one nation, one state.” As a direct consequence of this, fewer than 10% of the states in the world satisfy its requirements.
Meaning of Sovereign
In political philosophy, the term “sovereignty” refers to the highest legitimate power over a state. Sovereignty in international law refers to the use of authority by a state. De facto sovereignty is the power to act in a given situation, as opposed to de jure sovereignty, which refers to the legal authority to do so.
Examples of Sovereign Country
A country that has a single, centralised government with the authority to rule over a certain region is said to be sovereign. A sovereign nation has a designated territory governed by just one government, according to the concept established by international law. These countries can interact with other sovereign nations and have a permanent population. Many smaller or less notable states are largely obscure, although the majority of larger sovereign nations are quite well known around the world.
There are many examples of sovereign countries, some of which are China, India, United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil, Bangladesh, Russia, Mexico, Japan and more.
Formation of nations-states and armed conflict
War is more likely to occur as a result of the processes that are involved in the formation of nation-states. According to the findings of a study published in 2006 titled “From Empire to Nation-State: Explaining Wars in the Modern World, 1816–2001” by social scientists Andreas Wimmer and Brian Min, there are three types of wars that are more prevalent around the time that nation-states are being established: (1) wars of independence aiming to end foreign rule (for example, the Algerian War of Independence in 1954–62 and the Kosovo conflict in 1998–99); (2) civil wars within new nation-states (e.g., the German conquest of Alsace-Lorraine during the Franco-German War of 1871).
The terms “state,” “nation,” and “country” are all terms that are used to describe groups of people who live in the same location and share a significant number of characteristics in common. However, while states and sovereign states are examples of political entities, nations and countries are not necessarily political entities.
Conclusion
It is difficult to precisely define what a state is due to the fact that the meaning of words has evolved over time and that previous writers frequently used the term “state” in a variety of different contexts. Mikhail Bakunin used the word to refer to a governing organisation in its most basic sense.
