1. NATION STATE SYSTEM
Hakim Afridi University of Haripur

2. INTRODUCTION
 It has been argued that if men were not organized
into nations and willing to obey their governments
no international relations would have been possible
 Some scholars, on the other hand, argue that the
nation state system is fast disappearing. John Herz
says that the traditional concept of nation state has
become obsolete because the state is no longer
capable to protect its citizen as the war involves
nuclear, psychological and economic weapons

3. MEANING OF NATION STATE SYSTEM
 According to Palmer “the nation state system is the
pattern of political life in which people are
separately organized into sovereign states that
interact with one another in varying degrees and in
varying ways”
 For the protection of their national interests these
nation states resort to methods of peaceful
persuasion, and when these fail they resort to
coercive resources

4. ORIGIN OF NATION STATE SYSTEM
 The origin of nation state system can be traced
back to the signing of the treaty of Westphalia in
1648. Even before it the state existed and they
entered into relations with each others but they
were not sovereign states as their authority was
restrained by the Roman Church and the Roman
Empire
 It means that the treaty of Westphalia recognized
the sovereign nature of the state and henceforth the
supreme authority shall be recognized with the
state. state shall be free from internal and external
control

5. ORIGIN OF NATION STATE SYSTEM
 Resultantly such countries, as England, France,
Germany, and Spain shook off the authority of the
pope and became Nation State
 In the course of time Nation State underwent further
development and changes on account of the rise of
representative govts, industrial revolution, change
in population, growth of International law,
development of diplomacy, growing
interdependence of state in economic sphere, and
the expansion of the nation state system to non
western world

6. ELEMENTS OF MODERN NATION STATE
 The three elements of Nation State are
Sovereignty, territorial integrity, and legal equality
 Sovereignty: this principle was established by the
treaty of Westphalia which provided that only
sovereign states can enter into relation. In IR it
means the right of self govt and pursuit of National
Interest through independent Foreign Policy. There
are many limitation on the sovereign equality of the
state but still it is not obsolete

7. ELEMENTS OF MODERN NATION STATE
 Territorial integrity: it is corollary of the element of
sovereignty that a state’s territorial boundaries shall
be honored and it shall be free from external
control. States shall have the right over its
international borders and other states shall interfere
in the internal affairs of the state. the state may
influence the behavior of each other through
established diplomatic channels only

8. ELEMENTS OF MODERN NATION STATE
 Legal equality: It means that all the state, irrespective of
their size, population, military capability, economic
resources, etc, are equal members of international
community. This legal equality is recognized by the UN
charter
 Legal equality has been challenged by the positivists
who argued that to assert that a “state with the thousand
inhabitants is equal to a state with ten million
inhabitants… is as false as to assert that a thousand is
equal to a million”
 Legal equality became a farce when big powers got
permanent membership of UN security council

9. SETBACKS TO THE NATION STATE SYSTEM
 The rise of several non state actors and constraints
due to spread of Nuclear weapons and Inter-
dependence among the states, is responsible for
weakening the nation state system. Following
factors affected Nation State System
1. Growing Inter-dependence
2. Compromise on national interests
3. Regional integration
4. Rise of nuclear weapons
5. Growing role of public opinion
6. The role of MNCs