Man has always been a herd creature. Contrary to popular belief that each of us can exist completely separate from our own kind. Of course, the presence of consciousness in a person affects his way of life and the ability to obtain any benefits. However, the social component forces each of us to carry out our activities exclusively among such creatures. In other words, "herd" is laid in people at a subconscious level. This factor affects not only everyday life, but also many global processes. For example, the desire and desire for grouping in ancient times led to the creation of states. Because these structures are huge in size social formations.
It should be noted that states are not overwhelmingly homogeneous. All of them are endowed with certain features. The most interesting and unusual today are countries of a national character. As practice shows, in the 21st century there were practically no national states in their pure form, but they exist in small numbers. Therefore, in the article we will try to understand what these structures are and what characteristic features they possess.
Country - concept
Before considering the fact that what constitute nation states, it is necessary to understand the classical form of this term. It should be noted that for a long time, scientists could not come to a consensus on the creation of the concept of the presented category. However, after a certain amount of time, it was possible to create the most classical theoretical and legal model of the state. According to it, any power is an independent and independent organization, which is endowed with sovereignty, and also has developed mechanisms of coercion and control. In addition, the state establishes a regime of order in a certain territory. Thus, what we used to call our country is a complex socio-political mechanism that not only regulates, but also coordinates the activities of our society.
The main features of the state structure
Any legal phenomenon has characteristic features. From them you can determine its essence, as well as understand the principles of action. The state in this case is not an exception to the rule. It also has a whole system of characteristic features. These include the following:
- The presence of the main governing document, for example, the constitution.
- The managerial and coordination nature of power.
- The presence of property, population and its isolated territory.
- The presence of organizational and law enforcement structures.
- The existence of their own language.
- The presence of state symbols.
In addition to these characteristic features, some economic, social and political factors can also be attributed.
Nation state
As already indicated by the author earlier in the article, the powers are not identical in their structure and characteristics. That is, there are structures that significantly stand out among their own kind. These today are national states. Such structures constitute the constitutional legal form of a classical power. The term “national” is used to emphasize the fact of expressing one’s will in a particular territory by a particular nation. In other words, in such states, the ethnic question is at the forefront. That is, the will of not all citizens is expressed, namely, of a separate, completely homogeneous nation, which is united through a common language, culture and origin.
Signs of national countries
Any modern nation-state, like other forms of such social associations, has its own characteristic features. In this case, it should be noted that in addition to the general characteristics of the state, national countries have a number of their own. These include the following, namely:
- the means of all official communications in any form is the national language ;
- There is a separate system of national symbols that are accepted and fixed in official documents;
- national states - these are countries in which there is a monopoly on the taxation process;
- in the legislation of such countries there are no exceptions for certain social groups or minorities;
- There is a stable national currency;
- free access to the labor market, as well as guarantees for all citizens without exception;
- indivisible and uniform system of public education absolutely for all;
- tough propaganda of patriotic ideals;
- national interest prevails in foreign policy;
Thus, nation states are quite specific and complex structures that have a number of characteristic features. However, today there are very few such powers in their pure form. The number of nation states is less than 10% of the total population of existing countries.
Historical background to the emergence of national powers
The formation of nation-states did not occur randomly. The appearance of such structures was quite ordered in nature. That is, the direct formation of national states did not happen immediately. If you look at history, then this phenomenon was preceded by a series of certain events. For example, states in a classic form began to appear only after the Peace of Westphalia, concluded in 1648. He marked the end of the Reformation and the Thirty Years War. In addition, this agreement introduced the principles of the rule of law, independence and sovereignty of states into the world. Thus, new, for the most part political and legal, rather than feudal structures, began to take part in international relations. Also, the collapse of papal rule in Europe had a great influence on the formation of nation-states. The Holy Roman Empire is actually falling apart, and a new class, the bourgeoisie, is beginning to enter the political arena. In the 19th century, the development of nationalist ideas took place, which, in essence, led to the formation of nation-states.
Nationalism and the further process of formation of ethnic powers
At its core, nationalism is an ideology, as well as a specific direction in politics. Its adherents consider the nation the highest level of social unity in a given country. In addition, it is the nation that is the key factor in the process of creating a power. But this concept is purely theoretical. The political component of the issue shows the desire to defend the interests of a particular ethnic group. The nationalist idea began to develop actively in the XX century. In some cases, politicians have abused views of this nature to seize power. An excellent example of this is Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. However, nationalism in this form is rather negatively perceived by the world community, which was proved by the results of the Second World War. But this does not mean that today, nation-states do not exist at all.
Such powers exist and function quite effectively. As practice shows, in such countries the regulation of public relations is more centralized and more practical. After all, when the population is homogeneous, it is more convenient to control it. The system of nation-states is formed practically all over the world. In most cases, they function on the basis of religious norms, etc.
Modern national countries
The role of nation states in the modern world is not as great as it was, for example, in the middle of the 20th century. In most cases, many modern countries, especially in Europe, unite in their composition a lot of people belonging to certain ethnic groups. Thus, classical forms of homogeneous states are extremely rare. However, they do exist. The nation states for the most part are Muslim and African countries. This is due to a number of certain factors. Firstly, in such states, the main regulator of society is traditionally religious teaching.
Moreover, in Africa there are places where primitive norms still reign, which, in turn, govern important political and national issues of individual states of this continent. Of course, from the point of view of cultural preservation, traditional and religious countries are an excellent tool for organizing this process. But, as a rule, the political life in them is extremely scarce. Such social groups are at the stage of deep conservatism, and are also quite constrained in more political issues. This is the main problem of the national state of the presented orientation. However, the nationalist issue in traditional and religious powers is of paramount importance, due to the isolation and remoteness from the Western and European world. This helps to maintain economic stability, a relatively unchanged level of social life, and also ensures that a foreign “element” is not allowed to enter the country's activities.
If you look at European states, because of their multinationality, they very often fall into crisis situations. Therefore, the concept of widespread acceptance of migrants does not always positively affect the political stability of these countries.
Society and nation state
A large number of scholars studying the problems of ethnic powers very often think about the role of society in them. It should be noted that the latter category is the key in the process of formation and development of the countries represented in the article. Indeed, it is on the basis of the homogeneity of society that the state can be classified as national. Thus, the population is a key characteristic of ethnic countries. Moreover, the homogeneity of society should be determined not only by language or legal criteria, which will be discussed later, but also by the general culture, and, most importantly, the place of origin. In this case, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of nation and citizenship. The second category shows a structured legal relationship between a person and a country. In turn, the nation is characterized, as already mentioned, by a common culture, belonging to one ethnic group, language and social awareness.
Criteria for determining a national power
Given all the features presented in the article, we can conclude that all nation-states can be evaluated in terms of certain criteria. They will testify to whether the country is an ethnic structure. According to many scientists, there are two main criteria, namely:
- Legal.
- Numerical.
In the first case, the national type of state is fixed at the level of the constitution. That is, in the basic law there are special rules that determine the key role of a homogeneous population in a state. As for the numerical criterion, it consists in the real part of an ethnically homogeneous population, among the entire mass of people living in the state.
The national question of Russia
Today, one can find many statements that Russia is a national state. Contrary to popular belief, this is not the case. Firstly, the Russian Federation is a federation. This means that a large number of nationalities and ethnic groups live in this territory. Secondly, in the Russian Federation there are territorial areas whose national ideas are different from state ones.
For the political component, this is an extremely negative factor. Because Russian national states in most cases have their own vision of the political regime of the Russian Federation. Therefore, ethnic fragmentation quite often plays an extremely negative role. However, taking into account the federal structure, there is no escape from this.
So, in the article we examined the concept, key features and how the creation of the nation state in the world took place. In conclusion, it should be noted that such powers are a fairly serious level of civic consciousness. In most cases, it positively affects the political state of the state. Therefore, the ethnic homogeneity of the population must be controlled and maintained.