Twitter cuts (#112)¶
What a mysterious people, that have two different words for Nation and State https://t.co/eifDuanDcI
— Harry Stopes (@HarryStopes) April 29, 2016
The point doesn’t really need decompressing, but just in case —
@RichardHaass @nytimes we English speakers also have one word for nations and another for states. They are 'nations' and 'states'.
— G.I. Poe (@Nevidge20) April 30, 2016
When a proposition nation serves as the global model of the state, such discriminations are easily blurred. The underlying stresses have become far more visible recently. (Language figures, ironically doubled, in the irruption of ‘excessive’ national questions.)
The last time such a mismatch was recognized, in the early 20th century, Wilsonian dreams seemed available, as a fix. After much subsequent unpleasantness, the problem was eclipsed. We can now see, however, that it never disappeared.
(If ‘Nation State’ is a pseudo-pleonasm, we can expect diagonal lines of political philosophy to open as it cracks.)