Nation-state

A sovereign state whose population shares a national identity and whose political boundaries broadly correspond to that nation.

Nation: A community understood as sharing a history, culture, identity, or political belonging. A nation supplies the shared identity that distinguishes a nation-state from a state alone.
Peace of Westphalia: The 1648 settlement that ended major phases of the Thirty Years' War and reshaped European diplomacy. It is often treated as a milestone in the development of sovereign territorial rule.
Multinational state: A sovereign state containing multiple national communities, none of which alone defines the whole polity. It shows how a state can remain politically unified without matching one nation.
Citizenship: The legal status of membership in a political community, carrying rights and duties. Citizenship defines formal membership when national identity and legal status diverge.
Sovereignty: The authority of a political entity to govern itself without subordination to another power. Sovereignty gives the state component independence in domestic and external affairs.
French Revolution: The political upheaval beginning in 1789 that ended France's absolute monarchy and transformed ideas of citizenship and sovereignty. Revolutionary France recast sovereignty as belonging to the nation rather than the monarch.
Nation without a state: A nation lacking a sovereign state of its own. It separates national identity from the possession of sovereign institutions.
Self-determination: The principle that a people should determine its political status and pursue its development. It has justified movements to create states aligned with national communities.
State: A political organization exercising authority over a territory and its population through institutions and laws. A nation-state is a particular kind of state, distinguished by its national basis.
Nationalism: A political principle holding that nations should possess political autonomy or govern themselves. Nationalism supplied movements seeking states aligned with national communities.

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