GEOG 2200 Lecture 6: Week 6 Lecture 1 GEOG 2200 2013 Notes.docx
5 Jun 2014
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Document Summary
The state is the basic organizing unit of modern political life. But it differs from the notion of a nation. A nation refers to a group of people who feel themselves to be distinctive, on the basis of a shared historical experience and cultural identity which may be expressed in terms of ethnicity, language and/or religion. A state, on the other hand, refers to a set of institutions for the protection of a society as operating within an internationally recognized defined territory. These two ideas come together to form nation states in cases where the state territorially contains only one nation. The corollary of this is that not all national groups have their own state. The role of the state in social regulation is directed towards the goal of ensuring social and economic stability, thereby creating conditions that allow for prosperity. The state assumes two basic functions in this respect.
