Political theorists make a distinction between ‘nation’ and‘state’. A nation is a group whichthinks of itself as ‘a people,’ usually because they share many things in common. These consist of a common territory,history,culture,language,religionandwayoflife.Thestatehas a narrowermeaningreferring to the constitutional arrangementswhichdetermine how a nation is governed. Or ‘state’ refers to the machinery of government whichorganizes life in a giventerritory.Thus, we can distinguishbetween the Austrian state and the Austrian people or between the Thailand state and the Thailand people.
Modern nations are largely nation states. States have been in existence since ancient times. However, before the modern period in history, countries were mostly monarchies and empires, held together by loyalty to a ruling dynasty rather than by any sense of nationalism. Historians trace the origins of nation states, if not of nationalism, to eighteenth century. The first movements for nation states arose in Italy and Germany and spread later to other parts of world. Political thinkers distinguish between the terms ‘nation’, ‘country’ and ‘State’. In speaking of a nation, the emphasis is on the common heritage which the people of a country share, and which underlies their sense of nationhood or nationality.
Some writers argue that in some countries, such as America, Australia and Canada, the state comprises many nations, and that they are ‘multi-national societies.’ Societies with heavy immigration are seen as multi-national. Multi-national countries are sometimes prone to civil wars between the different groups. This has been especially true of central Africa in recent years, where different peoples fight to gain control of the state, or try to secede from the existing state. As we shall see, this question can lead to issues of international morality. ‘Nation’ and ‘country’ are used as synonyms in common parlance. In this chapter, we will use the three terms – nation, state and country – interchangeably. However, we need to bear in mind the conceptual differences between nation and state.
Irrespective of the nature of any state, it generally has relations with other states; these are known as foreign relations or international relations. A country’s relations with other countries are determined by its foreign policy. Foreign policy is also closely allied to a country’s diplomacy. A country’s foreign policy is seen as distinct from its domestic or internal policy. Thus, a country’s policy towards health or primary education is a part of its internal or domestic policy. But whether a country will join in a military arrangement with other countries will be determined by its foreign policy. However, there is always some interdependence between a country’s domestic and foreign policies. After these preliminaries, we will discuss the main questions connected with international morality.