Nation states are defined by sovereignty over territory and shared identity, but globalisation, supranational governance, separatism and annexation threaten their territorial integrity.

What this dot point is asking

Edexcel wants you to explain how a nation state is defined and how states vary in composition, the meaning of sovereignty, nationalism and borders, and then to evaluate the threats to sovereignty and territorial integrity from globalisation, supranational governance, separatism and annexation.

Nation, state and nation-state

States vary widely. Classic nation-states such as Japan and Iceland have high cultural and linguistic unity. Multi-national (or pluri-national) states such as the UK, Spain and Belgium contain several nations, and may be unitary (power centralised) or federal (power shared with regions). Failed states such as Somalia and South Sudan lack effective sovereign control, often a legacy of arbitrary colonial borders.

Nationalism, borders and identity

National identity is built and reinforced through flags, anthems, language policy and a shared narrative of history, which can bind a population or, where a nation straddles borders or feels excluded, fuel demands for self-determination. Artificial colonial borders, especially in Africa and the Middle East, lumped rival groups together or split nations such as the Kurds across several states, seeding long-running tension.

Globalisation and supranational governance

Globalisation erodes the control implied by sovereignty: flows of trade, capital, people and information cross borders freely, and TNCs can rival states in economic weight, shifting profits and production beyond national reach. Supranational governance involves states pooling sovereignty: the EU's single market and Schengen zone remove internal barriers, the UN, WTO, IMF and NATO bind members to shared rules, and economic and political unions with single markets or a common currency further dilute national control, the heart of the Brexit debate over sovereignty.

Threats to territorial integrity

Beyond globalisation, states face direct threats to territorial integrity. Separatism seeks to break away: Catalonia and Scotland held independence votes, and the Kurds and Basques press long-standing claims. Annexation seizes territory by force, as when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, while secession and unrecognised states such as Transnistria and Northern Cyprus challenge the map. Cyber threats add a new front, attacking infrastructure and elections without crossing a physical border.

Examples in context

Example 1: Russia and Crimea, 2014. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine after a contested referendum held under military occupation, the first forcible annexation in Europe since 1945. Widely unrecognised internationally and met with sanctions, it shows a direct assault on territorial integrity and the Westphalian principle, and prefigured the wider 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Example 2: Catalonia, 2017. Catalonia's regional government held an independence referendum that Spain's courts ruled illegal, and a unilateral declaration of independence was suspended amid a constitutional crisis. The episode illustrates separatism within a multi-national state, the tension between regional national identity and central sovereignty, and the limits of self-determination claims.

Try this

Q1. Distinguish between a nation and a state. [2 marks]

• Cue. A nation is a people sharing culture, language or history; a state is a political unit with sovereignty over a defined territory.

Q2. Explain one way supranational governance threatens national sovereignty. [4 marks]

• Cue. Pooling sovereignty in the EU (single-market rules, Schengen) or the WTO binds states to shared rules and erodes independent control, the core of the Brexit "take back control" debate.