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Modern State System: -

State:
It can be defined as a form of a political organization consisting of governmental
institutions, which maintain order and implement rules of law over a given population
and within a given territory.

Major Components:
1. A defined territory;
2. A permanent population;
3. A form of government;
4. Sovereignty

Modern States tend to have:
1. Stable boundaries;
2. Binding population together by political ties;
3. People are given their identity by the state in which they are citizens.

Citizens:
Normally, states consider all persons born on their territory to be citizens.

Citizenship:
It is an involuntary membership initially, which places the individual under the
rule of state.

Nation:
A nation is a cultural entity. It is a politically conscious and mobilized collectively
of people, which possesses self-government or independent state hood.

Culture:
The pattern of behavior or thinking that people living in social groups learns,
create and share (it distinguishes one group from other).

Nation State:
It implies that each state consist of one nation (one state one nation). In other
sense it is a territory controlled by a single government and inhabited by a distinct
population with a common culture that shapes the identity of its citizens. There are very
few states like that e.g. Japan has essentially 99% of the Japanese ethics via, speak
Japanese and belong to the Japanese culture. The remaining 1% of the population are
transplanted Koreans, foreigners, etc.




Modern States: - (more nations not single)

Note: Many of the states many of the states of the world are composed of different
people, cultures and languages. For example, there are around 200 states but over 10,000
cultural groupings.

Nationalism:
In modern sense it is taken as a collective action of a politically conscious group
of nation in pursuit of increased territorial autonomy or sovereignty.
It is characterized primarily by a felling of community among the people, based
on common descent, language, religion, etc.
It has appeared in many forms in different states over the centuries. It has been
used to justify economic expansionism, protectionism and imperialism.
It is sometimes the highest form of allegiance above church, class, tribe or other
social groups.
In short, it is the feeling of oneness, which is shared by a group of people based on
certain common things.

Regionalism:
It is awareness of togetherness among a people of a relatively large area within a
state. It encourages the inhabitants of a territory to demand a change in the political,
economic and cultural relations between their region and the central power within their
state.

Difference between Nationalism and Regionalism:
Nationalism in the modern sense does not usually apply to demands, which can be
accommodated within a state. It is restricted to demands for political (usually economic
and cultural) autonomy through to separation.

Political Integration Separation

Ingredients or Components of national identity:
1. Emotional attachment to the geographical features of the territory;
2. A common past with heroes and myths which inspire and promote pride;
3. Special kinship through a common language;
4. Unique culture with shared values and a common literature that creates a sense of
familiarity and belonging.

Nation building:
New states in particular need to develop a broad national identity which will bins
their citizens together. National identity is fostered by governments in order to promote
cohesion and stability.

Nation Building in Authoritarian States:
It is often dismayingly brutal.

Typical measures:
1. Arbitrary arrests;
2. A shackled press;
3. Military-dominated politics and so on.

National Building in democratic states:
It is more subtle way.

Typical Measures:
1. With flags;
2. National day celebration;
3. Setting national content rules for television;
4. Highly revered national flag and anthem and so on.

Hypernationalism:
It occurs when nationalist sentiment fosters the belief that other nations or states
are both inferior and threatening. For example; Hitlers Germany promoted a classical
example of which crossed the threshold to Hypernationalism.

In sum:
Because the concepts of state nation and nationalism are so familiar today,
therefore, there is a tendency to believe that they have always been present. That is not
true. The state as you know is relatively new in the history of world politics. The
modern idea of state did not exist until into 16
th
century. After that period there was a
gradual increase in the number of states until World War II. Added to this decolonization
and the dissolution of empires then led to a rapid increase. In addition, the last surge of
new states came with the emergence of post-communist regimes in Eastern Europe after
the collapse of USSR in 1191, providing the approximately 192 state that exist in 21
st

century.

Now Major challenges to modern states:
1. Building community:
States and nations;
Nationality and ethnicity;
Language;
Religious belief and fundamentalism;
Cleavages (cultural).
2. Foster Economic, social and political development
Poor and rich countries;
Economic inequalities;
Population growth, Economic development and the environment.
3. Securing Democracy, human rights and civil liberties.

Note: Today major changes are occurring in the patterns of states. In other words, states
ate becoming increasingly independent.

Modern states and forms of Government:-

Type of Government:
Authoritarian Democratic

Classifications of states:
Traditional Modern

Taxonomy:
A proper classification scheme that is: a country should be considered either
democratic or not, either modern or not.

Typology:
It is a taxonomy in which classificatory distinctive are graded or ordered.

Four-Fold typology of world states:
Developed



Democratic Authoritarian



Developing

The Democratic Authoritarian Dimension:

1. Liberal Democracy:
Briefly defined, it is a political system in which citizens enjoys a number of basic
civil and political rights and in which their most important political leaders are elected in
free and fair elections and accountable under a rule of law.
It is the reconciliation of need for order and stability with a degree of influence for
competing political interests.
Representatives are elected by a form of majority rule to make legislation, which
has the force of law.
Constitution is the highest law of the land.
In a liberal democracy even the majority is bound to accept certain limits to its
behavior and to govern within the rule of law. This principle is often known by the term
constitutionalism.






Varieties of Liberal Democracy:

a) Established:
Those Democracies which has two (at least) successive, free, comparative,
violence free elections e.g. UK, Canada and most states in Europe.
b) Transitional:
Those democracies that has a short life span from democracy to
authoritarian and then again to democracy e.g. India, Hungary, Poland, and many
states of former Soviet Union.
c) Facade:
Show piece of democracy. It may be military or dynastic regimes e.g.
Bolivia, Pakistan, Korea, Peru.

2. Authoritarianism:
This term use to depict political systems, which contrast with democracy by
resting more upon obedience of the citizens than upon their consent.
It restricts pluralism and limit public opinion, participation, call for obedience and
no dissent.
In it power is organized by the elites, through military bureaucracy, religious
leader or similar authorities.

Types of Authoritarianism:
a) Dictatorship: Self-interest tyrannies power rest in the hands of an individual or
small elite.
b) Totalitarianism: In this, the leaders impose their objectives or rules upon their
people to an unlimited degree.
c) Military: Coup-detat. When military officials take over the political power.

3. Constitutional Monarchy:
Monarch is considered by constitutions as head of the state and governing
is left to elected politicians e.g. UK and Japan.
4. Divine rights of the king:
Claimed by the Christians monarch in the 16
th
, 17
th
centuries of Europe.
5. Theocratic:
Actually Governed by the religious leaders e.g. Iran.

The Development Dimension:

First World:
States of the 1
st
world are both politically and economically modernized. They are
liberal democracies with open, competitive elections and are based to a large degreeon a
free economic market.



Second World:
States of the second world include those, which are broadly speaking communist
and have neither competitive party system nor a free market.
On the whole, they are based on one-party dominance and have controlled or
centrally planned economies.

Third World:
These are those remain outside of the first two categories.
Most, but not all, third world states resulted from the end of empire and
colonization.

From the 1950s to onwards, it became customary to divide the states of world as
follows:
World




1
st
World 2
nd
World 3
rd
World


Advanced Communist Remaining
Capitalist block of states: neither
Democracies countries rich and
Western nor
Communist
USA no more useful
after the collapse of USSR

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