Political Science:

 Suggestions:
I. 4 pages and 8 sides each answer
II. Structure should have introduction, headings, sub
headings and sub-sub headings.
 State: There are 195 states in the world. States have 4
important features:
I. Defined geographic territory which is
internationally recognized. If it is not
internationally recognized it is termed as a
disputed territory like Kashmir.
II. Hierarchically organized bureaucracy which is part
of executive organ. Bureaucracy is a permanent
state structure e.g., elections happen, ministers
change, political leaders change but the
bureaucrats generally do not change as they are
constitutionally protected. They implement the
will of the state at ground level.
III. Monopolization of certain functions/sovereignty
are those features due to which there are certain
things which only state can do and has supreme,
unlimited and absolute power in those matters
like:
1. Monopoly over legitimate use of force within
its territory. That is why when a criminal is
sent to death penalty nobody says anything
but when someone else kills someone it is
called murder. That is why the state has
police and military.
 2. Controls money at national scale i.e., fiscal
policy. It is up to the state to print currency,
collect taxes and so on.
3. Makes rules within its territory (law,
regulations, taxes, citizenship and so on)
4. Recognized diplomatically by other states as
no state can live in isolation. The most
modern method of this is united nation
through which other states recognize more
states.
 Nation: The central features of nation are:
1. Group of people within a defined geographic
territory.
2. They must see themselves as a cohesive and
coherent socio-political unit. E.g., if you go to
another country and see someone who is from your
country you feel a sense of bonding and association
with that person by virtue of the fact that you see
yourself being connected to a larger sector and
group of people who belong with one particular
identity.
3. Nations run on commonalities which binds them.
This can be anything. It can be same race,
ethnicity, language and so on. Anything that binds
them and gives them national identity. In Pakistan
it is religion whereas in America it is certain
political values like freedom, liberty and so on.
4. Nations always create us versus them divide i.e.,
not everyone is Pakistani. Basically, it establishes
 insiders versus outsiders. It is not fundamentally a
wrong thing.
5. Since there is emotional attachment with nations
which is known as national spirit and patriotism, it
seems innate, biological e.g., in cricket matches we
say we bleed green even though we all bleed red
but this shows the concept of nation is artificial and
is not innate, biological and nature. It is a product
of artificial construction. This was stated by
Benedict Anderson in his book Imagined
communities in which he traced the historical
building of nations, concept of nations, ideals and
heroes of nations. Not every state has a nation i.e.,
why certain nations are considered unique but still
they don’t have a political territory e.g., Kurds,
Roma and Palestine. They are also known as state-
less nation.
The e.g., of nations are:
1. There are certain nations which have formed their
national identity based on ethnicity e.g., South Korea,
Japan, Iceland, Portugal and so on. This only works in
states where there is no multi-ethnic population.
2. There are certain countries that base their national
identity on common language e.g., French language in
France, Indonesia and so on. Otherwise, they have
different religions.
3. There are nations based on shared history, heroes or
customs/cultures. These are for societies that are multi-
cultural, multi ethnic, multi-racial and multi-lingual
 societies. Societies that often have different biological
characteristics. E.g., Switzerland, China and India. Such
countries when try to form their national identity based
on certain identity it results in communal violence and
disruption.
4. There are certain nations based on religion e.g.,
Pakistan, Iran, KSA, Israel and so on.
 Who builds the nations? There are 2 theories as to how
nations are constructed:
1. They are constructed top-down meaning nations
are constructed due to policies of the government
i.e., how state gives education, who they declare as
heroes, which curriculum is taught, which version
of history one is taught that actively shapes the
national consciousness and so on. E.g., 1965 war
that was fought between Pakistan and India with
different versions on both sides as to who won the
war. They build perception about one’s place and
larger social group in the world i.e., nation.
2. National identity is not only forged by states but
also bottom-up meaning elements of national
identity are built by people such as poets, artists,
scholars and so on. E.g., Allama Iqbal played a
strong role in forging our national identity.
In reality both the concepts interact with one another and
form a unique conception of belonging to a particular nation.
Hence the features of nations come from what has been
taught in school by a curriculum that was deliberately
designed by the state and also comes from what one
implicitly absorbs from living in that state. Similarly, at the
same time poets, writers and scholars have also forged one’s
conception about ones particular and unique source of
identity.