| ethnonational group | An ethnic group in which a significant
percentage of its members favor national self-determination
and the establishment of a nation-state dominated by the
group.
|
 |
|
|
| exceptionalism | The belief by some that their nation or
other group is better than others.
|
|
|
|
| failed states | Countries in which all or most of the citizens
give their primary political loyalty to an ethnic group, a religious
group, or some other source of political identity. Such
states are so fragmented that no one political group can govern
effectively and, thus, are more legal entities than functioning
governments.
|
|
|
|
| ideology | Interconnected theological or secular ideas that establish
values about what is good and what is not, and that
indicate a course of action, create perceptual links among
adherents, and perceptually distinguish those who adhere to
a given ideology from those who do not.
|
|
|
|
| irredentism | A minority population’s demand to join its
motherland (often an adjoining state), or when the motherland
claims the area in which the minority lives.
|
|
|
|
| microstates | Countries with small populations that cannot
survive economically without outside aid or that are inherently
so militarily weak that they are an inviting target for foreign
intervention.
|
|
|
|
| multinational state | A country in which there are two or
more significant nationalities.
|
|
|
|
| multistate nation | A nation that has substantial numbers of
its people living in more than one state.
|
|
|
|
| nation | A group of culturally and historically similar people
who feel a communal bond and who feel they should govern
themselves to at least some degree.
|
|
|
|
| nationalism | The belief that the nation is the ultimate basis
of political loyalty and that nations should have self-governing
states.
|
|
|
|
| nation-state | A politically organized territory that recognizes
no higher law and whose population politically identifies
with that entity.
|
|
|
|
| political identity | The perceived connection between an individual
and a political community (a group that has political
interest and goals) and among individuals of a political community.
Nationalism is the dominant political identity of most
people, but others, such as religion, do exist as a primary political
identity and are becoming more common.
|
|
|
|
| popular sovereignty | A political doctrine that holds that
sovereign political authority resides with the citizens of a
state. According to this doctrine, the citizenry grant a certain
amount of authority to the state, its government, and,
especially, its specific political leaders (such as monarchs,
presidents, and prime ministers), but do not surrender ultimate
sovereignty.
|
|
|
|
| self-determination | The concept that a people should have
the opportunity to map their own destiny.
|
|
|
|
| state building | The process of creating both a government
and other legal structures of a country and the political identification
of the inhabitants of the country with the state
and their sense of loyalty to it.
|
|
|
|
| stateless nation | A nation that does not exercise political
control over any state.
|
|
|
|
| xenophobia | Fear of others, or other groups.
|
|
|
|
| Zionism | The belief that Jews are a nation and that they
should have an independent homeland.
|