Nation States and Borders

This lesson examines the concept of the nation state — the fundamental building block of the modern international system — and the borders that define and divide them. You will explore what constitutes a nation state, how borders are established and contested, and why stateless nations and secessionist movements challenge the existing political map. This lesson addresses the Edexcel Enquiry Question: "What is the relationship between globalisation and sovereignty?"

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What Is a Nation State?

The terms "nation" and "state" are often used interchangeably, but in geography and political science they have distinct meanings:

The State

A state (or country) is a political entity with:

1. A defined territory: Recognised borders that delineate the state's geographic extent.
2. A permanent population: People who live within the territory.
3. A government: An authority that exercises control over the territory and population.
4. Sovereignty: The supreme authority within the territory, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states.

These four criteria come from the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (1933), which remains the standard definition in international law. There are currently 193 UN member states and a handful of entities with disputed statehood (e.g. Taiwan, Palestine, Kosovo, Western Sahara).

The Nation

A nation is a cultural and social community whose members share a common identity based on factors such as:

• Language
• Ethnicity or race
• Religion
• Shared history and historical memory
• Cultural traditions (food, music, dress, customs)
• A sense of belonging to a common homeland

A nation is fundamentally a subjective concept — it exists because people believe it exists. Benedict Anderson famously described nations as "imagined communities" (1983), arguing that members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, yet in the mind of each lives the image of their communion.

The Nation State

A nation state exists when the borders of the state correspond closely with the territory of a nation — when the political unit and the cultural community are aligned. In theory, a nation state is a territory where the nation and the state are congruent: the state governs a single, largely homogeneous national community.

In practice, perfect nation states are extremely rare. Most states contain multiple ethnic, linguistic or religious groups, and most nations spill across state borders:

Concept	Definition	Example
Nation state (close alignment)	State borders roughly match a single national community	Japan, Iceland, Portugal, South Korea
Multinational state	A state containing multiple distinct nations	UK (English, Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish), Russia (180+ ethnic groups), India (2,000+ ethnic groups)
Stateless nation	A nation without its own sovereign state	Kurds, Palestinians, Rohingya, Tamils, Catalans
Multi-state nation	A nation spread across multiple states	Koreans (North and South), Arabs (22 states), Malay (Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei)

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Westphalian Sovereignty

The modern international system is based on the principle of Westphalian sovereignty, named after the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years' War in Europe. The Westphalian model established several core principles:

1. Territorial integrity: States have exclusive authority within their borders.
2. Non-interference: States should not intervene in each other's internal affairs.
3. Legal equality: All sovereign states are equal under international law, regardless of size or power.
4. Government authority: The state's government is the supreme authority within its territory.

These principles remain the foundation of the UN system. Article 2(1) of the UN Charter affirms the "sovereign equality of all its members", and Article 2(7) prohibits intervention in domestic affairs.

Exam Tip: Westphalian sovereignty is a central concept in Topic 8B. You should be able to explain it clearly and then evaluate how it is being challenged by globalisation, international organisations, humanitarian intervention, transnational threats and migration. The tension between Westphalian sovereignty and global interconnection is the core theme of the specification.

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How Borders Are Established

Borders are not natural features — they are social constructions imposed on the landscape through political processes. Understanding how borders are created reveals why so many are contested.

Types of Borders

graph TD
    A["TYPES OF BORDERS"] --> B["Physical / Natural"]
    A --> C["Geometric / Artificial"]
    A --> D["Cultural / Ethnographic"]
    A --> E["Relict / Historical"]

    B --> B1["Rivers: Rio Grande<br/>(US-Mexico)"]
    B --> B2["Mountain ranges: Pyrenees<br/>(France-Spain)"]
    B --> B3["Lakes: Great Lakes<br/>(US-Canada)"]

    C --> C1["Straight lines on a map:<br/>US-Canada 49th parallel"]
    C --> C2["Colonial-era borders:<br/>much of Africa"]

    D --> D1["Language boundaries:<br/>Belgium (Flemish/Walloon)"]
    D --> D2["Religious boundaries:<br/>India/Pakistan partition"]

    E --> E1["Former borders still<br/>visible in landscape:<br/>Berlin Wall"]

    style A fill:#1565c0,color:#fff
    style B fill:#2e7d32,color:#fff
    style C fill:#c62828,color:#fff
    style D fill:#6a1b9a,color:#fff
    style E fill:#e65100,color:#fff

Colonial-Era Border Drawing

Many of the world's most problematic borders were drawn by colonial powers, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, with little or no regard for the ethnic, linguistic or religious composition of local populations.

The Scramble for Africa (1884–1885): At the Berlin Conference, European powers divided Africa into colonies using geometric lines on maps. These borders:

• Split ethnic groups across multiple colonies (e.g. the Maasai were divided between British Kenya and German Tanganyika, now Tanzania).
• Forced rival groups into the same territory (e.g. the Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda; 200+ ethnic groups in Nigeria).
• Created states with no internal coherence, contributing to post-independence conflict.

Approximately 44% of African borders follow lines of latitude or longitude — straight lines drawn with rulers on maps in European capitals.