Political Science, Political Geography, International Relations,International Aturk Alatoo University

1. Political Science
Aliia Ruslanova
IR4

2. States and Nations
• A State is a permanently populated territory and It has full control over its
internal and foreign affairs.
• Nation: refers to a reasonably large group of people with a common
culture that occupy a particular territory and nations share one or more
important cultural traits such as religion, language, history, values and
political institutions
• State is synonymous with Country

3. The only exception is Antarctica which has neither a
permanent population nor an established government.

4. • A multi-cultural state consists of several nations: INDIA(multicultural
diversity and only state in the world that provides harmony and
democracy among the cultural and religious diversity)
• Some nations do not have their own state and therefore are scattered
across several countries – Kurds in the Middle East
• Nation-state: Israel ,Palestine, Japan
• this is when the territory of a state is occupied by only one distinct
nation or people. In that case, there are no important minority groups

5. • (+) Japan, Denmark, and Poland are examples of nation-states- it
reduces the cause of conflicts,clashes among the nation or self
interests so it leads to make for strong states
• Canada is often termed two nations within a state, because
Canadians speak French and English. “first nations”- indigenous
groups of Canadians

6. • Unitary states are organized around a single political core, the national capital
i.e. Afghanistan, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, China, United Kingdom, France and
some former French colonies practice this type of a system including
Cameroon – when whole country is under the direct control of the central
government.
• A unitary state can be all of the following:
monarchy, Ruled by a royal
democracy, Free and equal representation of the people
or a dictatorship form of government(is ruled by a single individual with
absolute power).
Unitary and Federal States

7. • In federal states, the responsibilities of government are divided formally
between the central authorities in national capitals and lower levels of
government
• So under the federal system there are a variety of power centers:
The German system has a strong federal government and the power is more
centralized
The United States, Canada and Mexico do have a federal structure of
government too
Weak federation –Switzerland
Weak central government – state has most power.
no power to tax – this means
they can not get their finances in order.
* No “TAX”- no finance- no contribution –no power

8. • Constitutionalism – is the doctrine that states should be faithful to their
constitutions because the rule so provided are all that can protect the citizens
from arbitrary decisions by powerful people.
• Notion in "constitutionalism” that constitutions should be designed fairly,
rather than to give undue advantage to one particular group.
• Const-ism is strong in Britain, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zeland
• Supreme court - is insulated from political powers and has power to overthrow
any actor of government if it finds that act is unconstitutional (Bill of Rights and
a list of personal freedoms from governmental action that is written in
constitution ) (UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia don’t have supreme court
but impartial obedience to the rules of politics to protect individuals)
•

9. Key terms :
Constitution
Constitutionalism
Supreme court
federal states
Weak central government
central authorities
lower levels of government
Unitary states
 Nation-state
 State , Nation

10. Conclusion
• Built upon the natural rights common to a people who need and
welcome an executive power to protect their property and
liberties(Locke –civil state)
• People cannot survive on their own without the presence of
government
• Man truly is a political animal
• To get what is most important (security, liberty, property), people
must give their consent to be governed and enter into a social
contract
Thank you for your Attention