T

here are 195 recognised independent

states in the world. All but two are mem-

ber states of the United Nations (UN).

Some states, such as Taiwan, remain in

limbo due to ongoing political disputes

over their sovereignty. The vast majority

of the global population, including indig-

enous peoples, are subject in some way

to the laws of a nation state. And yet the nation is notoriously

difficult to define. In the Oxford English Dictionary, a nation

is listed as a “large aggregate of communities and individuals

united by factors such as common descent, language, culture,

history, or occupation of the same territory, so as to form a

distinct people”.

The nation has become the accepted political method of

organising our modern public and private lives. We are all

bound by national laws, which are in turn enshrined in inter-

national law through organisations such as the UN and the

European Union (EU). But how did this simple and apparent-

ly obvious idea come to dominate the world and its political

laws over recent centuries? And, as entities such as the UN

and the EU are subject to increasing criticism from various quar-

ters, is the sovereign nation state now entering a period of slow

and painful decline – even disappearance – with the rise of

economic globalisation?

One of the many contradictory aspects of the nation is that

it is a relatively recent invention: most historians claim that it

emerged as recently as the 19th century. Yet most nations claim

or imagine themselves to have existed since ancient times: think

of India, China or even England – the latter being a particular-

ly troublesome example. The concept of the nation is usually

regarded as a western-European invention, which is certainly

where its earliest usage and application are recorded. It first ap-

pears in European vernaculars in the late 13th century, its name

based on the Latin natio (‘birth’), usually referring to a racial

‘breed’ or group rather than a political state.

States had, of course, already existed by this time. The

Roman empire, with its attempt at centralised organisation, is

the most obvious example. But the state is not necessarily a

synonym for a nation. A state requires sovereignty, territory,

governance and population, all of which existed under Rome.

But a nation requires a common sense of collective unity and

consciousness – ‘Roman-ness’ – which was felt by only a tiny

minority of people under the control of Rome, whose native in-

habitants defined themselves through a city rather than a nation

or even empire.

The first mention of “Ingland the nacion” comes around

1300, and even Shakespeare’s earliest use of ‘nation’ in the late

1590s has more of a religious and racial aspect than a political

one. It is spoken by Shylock, the Jewish moneylender in The

Merchant of Venice, who claims that the Christian Antonio

“hates our sacred nation”. AL

AM

Y

Indeed, Shakespeare provides an interesting example of

the confusion that surrounds the history of nationhood. In

Richard II (written c1595), John of Gaunt is given one of the

most anthologised of all Shakespeare speeches, celebrating

“this sceptr’d isle” as “This blessed plot, this earth, this realm,

this England”. But the princely Gaunt is actually describing

England not as a nation but as a royal absolutist (“sceptred”)

state that is, according to him, being ruined by a king –

Richard II.

Like most European states prior to 1600, Tudor England

operated as a dynastic state that drew inspiration from the

classical empires of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia, China and

the Ottomans. Around that time, collective identity was

usually connected to an empire or religion. All were loosely

grouped around sacred (as opposed to vernacular) languages:

Latin, Arabic, Chinese, Pali. These languages were primarily

used by elites that organised imperial and theological empires

with cosmic centres such as Jerusalem, Mecca, Rome and

Baghdad. Each empire was structured with porous and in-

distinct boundaries, where one empire faded into another

Mapping the land

A section of the Carte de Cassini (1789),

a detailed map of the territory of France.

Coinciding with the French Revolution, it

provided a template for all national surveys

Between 1770 and 1789,

a staggering 895 books

were printed with the

words ‘nation’ or

‘national’ in their titles

History of the nation state