ection of member states. I suppose the word nation was chosen because the name United States was already taken, but it reinforces the common misconception of the interchangeability of nation and state.The existence of a state without a common national identity further illustrates a difference between nation and state. Some nation-states contain a population fragmented between several large groups who have not surrendered portions of their various identities in order to produce a common identity. A recent example of such a state is Serbia, which is divided among Serbs and ethnic Albanians. The national ideology failed to assimilate large sections of the population, which was responded to with the use of violent force, coercion, and even ethnic cleansing by the Serbian state against the Albanians. Nation-states with such problems are usually artificial creations of war and/or colonialism.Many nations exist without their own state. There are at least 8000 actual or potential nationalities , and far less states (190). It is unconceivable to have a state for each nation because their “homelands” overlap with distressing frequency. The Soviet Union alone recognized over 100 nationalities . The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 created many new states that did not fit in with Europe’s way of nation states because nations were scattered throughout the Soviet Empire. The Jews are a nation who is well known for not having a state of their own. Throughout history Jews have been spread among many states. Some of these nation-states did not see Jewish people as a part of the states national ideology, which resulted in persecution, genocide and ethnic cleansing, the most severe case being Nazi Germany.The many conflicts between nations and states are evidence of their separateness, yet at the same time nations and states are mutually interacting. A goal of a state is for its citizens to have a common sense of national...
