What is a country AIMS To understand the contentious nature of defining a nation To understand the history of the nationstate and the concept of nationalism Extension To understand the impact of the United Nations on nations ID: 492462
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Slide1
Nationhood
What is a country?
AIMS
To understand the contentious nature of defining a nation.
To understand
the history of the nation-state and the concept of nationalism
Extension – To understand the impact of the United Nations on nationsSlide2
Vocabulary
Keep a spare page in your Paragon notebook and anytime a new word comes up in bold, write it down with a definition.Slide3
Prior Knowledge
In 2 sentences defineWhat is a country?What is a nation?
What is a state?Slide4
Nation, state, nation-state
The language we use is important as it has different meanings and therefore different impacts.Nation -> A cultural and ethnic entity
State -> A political or geopolitical entity.Therefore, What is a nation-state?A political entity which also has a cultural or ethnic element attached to it.Slide5
Nation-state
The nation-state has been the dominant form of world organization for the last 120 years.The world is organized into areas that represent cultural, ethnic, religious, or even diverse backgrounds.
Countries may emerge for a whole variety of reasons and feel unity for a number of reasons.Slide6
Time for a bit of context
Prior to the French Revolution, it can be claimed the
intellectual idea of a nation-state did not exist.The idea of a large group of people sharing unique ethnic or cultural ties wasn’t widely seen as plausible.This could be put down to a lack of mass media uniting people and the feudal system being in operationLack of mass mediaCommunication and travel were a long process prior to the 1750s.As such there wasn’t much in the way of mass media.Books and newspapers relied on people being literate (able to read and write) and the majority of people still couldn’t read.
France didn’t speak French as a majority until the early 1800s.
Feudal System
The strict hierarchical system didn’t lead to much unity.
Economically there was no way to improve yourself.
People lived a hand to mouth existence and felt no unity, nor spent much time, with people higher up the social scaleSlide7
Case studyFeudal France
Vs. Modern India
Let’s compare and contrast Feudal France’s unity with Modern India. Linguistically very diverseWhat effect would this have on nationalism and the idea of a nation-state?What about societal structure?France had a clear feudal system.Does Modern India?Slide8
Eric Hobsbawm
In Nations and Nationalism Hobsbawm
puts forward the idea that French culture and language was not united and that the nation-state came before the nation. He references that only 12-13% of people in French territories spoke fluent French at the time of the French RevolutionThe French Revolution is also a really important event in the history of the nation-state. Slide9
Sovereignty and Liberty
The French Revolution threw out the old order of Monarchies and feudal order.
In its place was the radical idea of popular sovereignty Sovereignty is the idea that a country has the authority to look after its own affairs and should be left to govern, it has the right to govern.Popular sovereignty is the idea that the people give legitimacy to its leaders and the right to govern. France’s choice to follow popular sovereignty led to today’s democratic world.
“Each
people is independent and sovereign, whatever the number of individuals who compose it and the extent of the territory it occupies. This sovereignty is inalienable
.”
French Declaration of Rights (1795)Slide10
Rights
So now we know that in the modern world all of you are part of
popular sovereignty What other rights do you have as citizens of your country? Take five minutes and come up with a list of rights you have. Remember rights are different to privileges.Slide11
Today’s world
The idea of a nation-state took hold and couple with rapidly growing economies due to the Industrial Revolution the world defined by countries was created.Now we have a world where you have to be a nation-state to exist.
How many countries are in the world?It depends on who you ask.Who do you ask?Slide12
The United Nations?
The United Nations was created in 1945, after World War Two, to help bring order and dialogue to the world, not fighting and terror.
The UN decided to admit members in 1945.Slide13
The UN very quickly became the designator of nationhood.
If you were in the UN, you are a de-facto country in the eyes of many others.
So how does the UN define a country?The criteria for being a full member state is “Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations.The admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.In total there are 193 full members of the UNThere are also 2 official ‘non-member’ observers as wellThis means
according to the UN
there are 195 countries in the world.
This however is a contested issue.
The United Nations?Slide14
Project
So, with the UN’s criteria for full membership ringing in you eyes let me direct you towards your project for this week.It’s on the new shiny Hsparagon.weebly.com website.
Click on the project picture on the home page or go to COURSE->PROJECTSYou’ll find details there on what to do.BUT!!! BEFORE YOU STARTSlide15
Debate
We have a debate scheduled for this week, and like every debate we will have, it will be on a Friday. You will be tasked with
Conducting research on your side of the topicSubmitting research before the debate on Friday.Putting forward a debate on your topic and taking the other sides point of view and retorting. The debate is“Should Palestine be a full United Nations member?”The debate will take place on Friday at 10:30 AMFor more information visit the debate section of the HSParagon.weebly.com website.Slide16
So your Paragon week looks as follows
Today -> Nationalism lessonWednesday -> Research for Thursday’s presentation and PP tutorialsThursday -> Presentations
Friday -> Debate