State Terminology

An area organized into a political unit, with defined boundaries, and ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs; a country

• State
• Nation
• Region
• Ethnicity

A group of people who have certain things in common: cultural heritage, beliefs and values, claim to a particular space as their homeland, desire to establish their own state or express self-determination (a cultural unit)

• State
• Country
• Nation
• Race

Identity/connection with a group of people who share legal attachment and personal allegiance to a particular place as a result of being born there

• Ethnicity
• Nationality
• Race
• Religion

A country that contains two or more ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination that agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities

• Nation-State
• Multiethnic State
• Multinational State
• Multistate Nation

A country that contains more than one ethnicity

• Multiethnic State
• Multistate Nation
• Nation-State
• Microstate

A defined area within a state that has a high degree of self-government and freedom from its parent state

• Microstate
• Autonomous Region
• Stateless Nation
• Territory

A cultural group that has a national identity but no state of its own - ex: Kurds

• Autonomous Region
• Nationless State
• Multinational State
• Stateless Nation

A nation with a state of its own that also stretches across borders into other states

• Stateless Nation
• Multinational State
• Multistate Nation
• Multiethnic State

States are said to have freedom from outside control of their internal affairs, meaning no other state can interfere... this is called:

• Imperialism
• Sovereignty
• Statehood
• Nationality

A country that encompasses a very small land area

• Macrostate
• Microstate
• Little Tiny State
• Island