Sociology

Nation-state
The modern nation-state is a historical phenomenon. Its notion as a framework of modern polity has its roots in the late Enlightenment and early Romanticism. The existence and advent of the nation-state therefore is ascribed to the interaction of political, ideological and economic forces in which national issues played a prominent role (Teichova and Matis, 2003). Modern nation-states possess various characteristics which include a rising sense of nationalism, ability to rule themselves hence independent with an organized government that has a developed state bureaucy which handles the running government, a population with different ethnicities though sharing the same nationality and a vibrant economy. A nation-state moreover is associated with a particular group of people from whom it derives its claim to legitimate existences. It has national symbols, a flag, a national anthem and range of national emblems (Teichova and Matis, 2003).

A nation is defined as an extensive aggregate of tightly-knit culturally homogenous group of people within a country who share a common culture and occupy a definite territory though they lack sovereignty and authority. The Kurdish nation constitutes the largest ethnic group in the world without a state. The Kurds share a common cultural heritage which is rooted in the worlds oldest culture despite the fact that they are distributed in the mountainous regions of four Middle Eastern countries of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Majority of Kurds are Muslims belonging either to Sunni or Shia Islam and share the Kurdish language which belongs to the Indo-European Family. However, due to lack of statehood, they lack authority or sovereignty as they are under the respective governments in the countries that they live in. Despite repeated efforts at suppressing the Kurdish nation, major institutions have emerged aimed at representing their interests. These include the Kurdish parliament in exile and the Kurdish National Congress (Bruinessen, 2000).

A state is defined as a self governing political unit with a distinct territory, sovereignty and authority though this authority is manifested through the ability to use force hence lacks a cohesive identity among its people. The Republic of Iraq is a self governing political unit with a parliamentary democracy which consists of an executive, judicial and legislative branch. Its sovereignty is evidenced in its constitution that was amended in 2005. Though it possesses authority, this authority is manifested through the use of force as witnessed when Iraq invaded Kuwait and the subsequent coercion of Shia Muslims in the South and Kurds in the North who were against Husseins government in the 1990s. Iraq as a nation lacks a cohesive identity due to constant outbreak of violence between the Shiites and the Sunni. However, Iraq belongs to various international organizations e.g. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and United Nations hence it is internationally recognized by other nations and adheres to international treaties. (Affairs of Near Eastern, Bureau, 2010).

Japan is recognized as a nation-state. It has well defined borders and territory occupying a group of islands of Hokkaido, Shikoku, Kyushu and Honshu. At the same time it is situated between the Sea of Japan and the North Pacific Ocean, East of Korea, China and Russia. Additionally, Japan has principally the same type of people, the Japanese, who are organized by their cultural background and race (Bouissou, 2002). 99 of Japanese people speak the Japanese language which is an agglutinative language. Buddhism is practiced though it has currently been infiltrated by Confucianism, Taoism and Christianity. Its unique culture distinguishes it from other countries with the traditional Japanese clothing known as kimono and its traditional sports established during the Edo period which include Jujutsu, Sumo and Sojutsu forming the most dominant feature. Japan has a national anthem and flag known as Kimigayo and Hinomaru respectively. Japans government is made up of two chamber legislature or parliament i.e. the Diet which comprises the upper house, the House of Representatives, the house of councilors and the lower chamber (Bouissou, 2002).

The United States fits the criteria of a nation-state since it is no longer a colony after the success of the American Revolution. It is a nation-state in that it rules itself through an organized government that consists of the judiciary, executive and legislature. Moreover, it is organized into three distinct levels of federal, local and state government. The United States has a large territory which consists of the fifty states together with other areas like Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. It population of over 300 million is made up of people from different ethnic backgrounds and orientation although they do share a common nationality.

Other than the fifty states, the United States has other territories which include Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea, Puerto Rico and American Samoa and Guam in the Pacific Ocean which are administered by an elected or appointed governor or elected legislature. It fosters these territories through the constitution which gives Congress and the President control and power to make rules and regulations that respect the territories. Additionally, the United States upon occupation, cession, growth or accretion of a new territory, ensures that territorial laws do not violate the citizens fundamental rights of freedom of speech and equal protection (Robert, 2002).

Sovereignty is the supreme, uncontrollable and absolute authority possessed by any independent state to do any thing without accountability over an exclusive population and territory. This power is vested in government through a legal conveyance from the people (Shanks, 2001). In the United States, this legal conveyance is implemented in the constitution through the legislative, judicial and executive branches which enables it to make laws, execute laws both at home and abroad and apply the law to particular facts when administering justice. United States nonetheless fosters its sovereignty by controlling access to citizenship through extending regulatory control over naturalization and immigration (Shanks, 2001).

A common culture does not necessarily mean that people are the same because differences exist in all communities starting with the family (Jay, 2010). However, in the United States, the idea of a common culture is fostered by various elements which include individualism where people are judged by individual achievements rather than belonging to a particular group, capitalism in which wealth and property is accumulated by individuals enabling them to earn respect and power, a consumerism culture that runs on advertising where a belief in fashion is the key, monolingualism whereby Americanized English is used as the main language in every sector of the economy, religiosity since Americans are more religious than Western Europeans with Christianity being the dominant religion and secularism where there is separation between the church and the state hence individual rights are not predicated upon ones religious affiliation (Jay)

 The officially stated objective of the United States as stipulated in the Foreign Policy Agenda of the U.S Department of State is to create a more democratic, secure and prosperous world for the benefit of the people of America and the international community. After the September 911 terror attach, America has been involved in the fight against terrorism through its various agencies. Its foreign policy also aims at securing borders and creating an atmosphere of democracy hence was involved in an attempt to stop the spread of communism in Grenada.

Countries are eligible to join the EU on condition that they are democratic, run a market economy and can handle the rights and obligations of membership. Currently, EU has more than 27 members which are Italy, Britain, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Germany, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Denmark, Bulgaria, Croatia, Austria, Belgium, Turkey, Cyprus, Lithuania and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Other potential candidates include Albania, Herzegovina, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro.

The modern-day European Union came into existence after World War II in response to the social, political and economic devastations that resulted from the nationalistic division within Europe. The following events led to the creation of the European Union. In 1950, Robert Schuman the French Prime Minister, made a proposal urging for the integration of the coal and steel industries in Luxembourg, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany in rebuilding Western Europe after the war. This led to the Treaty of Paris being signed by the six countries creating the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSE) (Rasmussen et al, 2008). In 1957, the same six countries signed the Treaty of Rome creating the European Economic Community (EEC) to oversee the integration of the nations of Western Europe. Trade barriers were removed between them as they moved towards the creation of a common market.

In 1967, EEC merged together with the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) to form the European Community (EC). Between 1973 and 1986, the enormous success of the liberalized trade and internal market policies resulted in the entry of Ireland, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom (Rasmussen et al, 2008). In 1986, the EU governments signed the Single European Act that enabled the creation of a single market in which services, people, goods and capital could move easily. In 1992, the European Union (EU) was finally created through the signing of the Treaty of Maastricht. This process was accelerated by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent unification of Germany in 1990. New forms of cooperation were introduced on issues dealing with home affairs, defense and justice (Rasmussen et al, 2008).

The European Union contemporary function is to integrate its members economies into a single, united free-trade market that has a common currency, a central bank and removes restrictions on movement by encouraging the mobility of labor, capital, goods and services among its member countries (Rasmussen et al, 2008).

The European Union has created its own foreign and security policy which enables it to speak up with regard to world affairs. The common security and foreign policy aims at strengthening the EUs ability to act through the development of civilian and military capabilities in conflict prevention and crisis management (Rasmussen et al, 2008). In 1998, the EU successfully brokered a truce to end the fight between Georgia and Russia. EU observers monitored the situation while at the same time provided humanitarian aid to people displaced by the fighting. Additionally, in December 2008, EU provided protection for ships from pirates along the Somali coast through a Marine Operation.
Nations engage in foreign policy through policy making where various strategies are used which include signing treaties, use of diplomatic principles and forming allies with other nations and consulting them on various issues which have great impact. Often these treaties are based on the beneficial outcomes of the foreign policies (Kwiatkowski, 2008). As much as foreign policies have positive intentions, they however produce unintended consequences. This is especially so with American foreign policy on Iran and Afghanistan that has resulted in the deaths of civilians, soldiers, internal and external displacement of citizens and widespread insecurity. This has led to a rise in resentment and suspicion against America that is perceived to have pushed for nationalistic interests that disregarded its effects on other nations. (Kwiatkowski, 2008).