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The Nation-State Past and Present
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The domination and unification of a political territory in western and central Europe that lasted from its inception with Charlemagne in 800 to the renunciation of the imperial title by Francis II in 1806.
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The policy or practice by which a powerful and often distant state acquires political and territorial control over a territory and society, creating a dependent relationship through occupying it with settlers and exploiting it economically.
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A system of government that at minimum extends to citizens a range of political rights and a range of civil liberties that are important to free government.
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A type of restrictive governmental system in which people are under the rule of an individual, such as a dictator or king, or a group, such as a party or military junta.
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The formal recognition of one states sovereignty by another, extended through the establishment of an embassy and/or consular relations. Diplomatic recognition is a key criterion of state sovereignty, suggesting its relational and subjective nature.
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Countries in which the state is unable to effectively maintain order and provide public goods due to political upheaval, economic instability, crime and lawlessness, violence, ethnic and cultural divides, and other destabilizing forces.
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An 18th- and 19th-century Western social and intellectual movement focused on the advancement of science, knowledge, and human rationality.
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The belief of some that their nation or group is better than others.
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Countries with small populations that cannot survive economically without outside aid or that are so weak militarily that they are inviting targets for foreign intervention.
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A political system that is organized, governed, and defined by the idea of the divine right of kings, or the notion that because a person is born into royalty, he or she is meant to rule.
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The undoing of colonialism, or the unequal relation of polities in which one people or nation establishes and maintains dependent territory over another.
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An ideology that advocates extreme nationalism, with a heightened sense of national belonging or ethnic identity.