What makes a state?
A state is a political community with:
- Territory: land (and sea, air) with borders;
- People: a permanent population;
- Government: organs that make, carry out and judge laws;
- Sovereignty: the highest power inside, and freedom from outside rule.
Recognition by other states and membership of international bodies help a new state trade, sign treaties and defend itself. A nation is a people who feel they belong together (language, history, culture); a nation-state is when a nation has its own state. Inside a state, power can be centralised or shared with regions and local councils (local autonomy).
1918: empires fall and new states are born
The First World War ended four empires: Russian (revolution, 1917), German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman. The idea of national self-determination, promoted by US President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918) and by national movements, said each people should choose its own state.
- Poland regained independence on 11 November 1918 after 123 years of partition, joining lands from three empires.
- Czechoslovakia, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became states.
- Romania united with Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina in 1918 (the Great Union, 1 December).
- In 1923 the Republic of Turkey was founded from the Ottoman core.
The interwar years (1918–1939) were a time of hope, but also of economic crisis and, in many new states, a slide from democracy to authoritarian rule.
Drawing borders: treaties, plebiscites and wars
- Treaties: the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) produced the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, plus treaties with Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman state. The League of Nations was created.
- Plebiscites: in some mixed regions people voted (e.g. Upper Silesia and parts of East Prussia in 1920–1921; Schleswig in 1920).
- Uprisings and wars: the Greater Poland uprising (1918–1919), the Silesian uprisings, and the Polish–Soviet war (1919–1921), ended by the Treaty of Riga (1921).
Few borders matched where peoples lived. Minority treaties tried to protect minorities, but quarrels over borders and minorities fed the tensions that led to the Second World War.
Building institutions: the state's machine
Winning independence is only the start. A new state must:
- write a constitution (Poland's March Constitution 1921; Romania's 1923 constitution);
- elect a parliament and form a government;
- unify laws, courts and administration inherited from different empires;
- create one currency and a central bank (the Polish złoty, 1924, after high inflation);
- build an army and police;
- open schools in the national language and fight illiteracy;
- join railways, roads and ports (Poland built the port of Gdynia).
Reforms such as land reform and votes for women (Poland 1918) tried to win citizens' loyalty.
Later waves and fragile states today
More states were built after 1945 as colonies became free (India and Pakistan 1947, Indonesia 1949, Ghana 1957, many African states around 1960) and after the USSR split in 1991.
A fragile state is one whose government cannot keep peace, give basic services or be trusted by its people, often after war. Ways to strengthen it and its democracy:
- peace agreements and disarming fighters;
- a fair constitution and free, regular elections;
- independent courts, a free press and honest officials (fighting corruption);
- including all groups (power-sharing, local self-government);
- support from the UN and others for schools, health and the economy, while local people stay in charge.
Lesson from history: democracy cannot simply be imposed from outside; it grows when citizens trust the institutions.
Key formulas and definitions
- State = territory + people + government + sovereignty (+ recognition)
- Nation: a people who feel they belong together; nation-state: a nation with its own state
- Self-determination: the right of a people to choose its own state and government
- Plebiscite: a vote of the people of a region on which state it joins
- Fragile state: a state whose government cannot keep peace or give basic services
- Key dates: 11 Nov 1918 Poland independent; 1 Dec 1918 Great Union of Romania; 1919 Versailles; 1921 Riga; 1947 India; 1991 USSR ends
Worked examples
1. Why did so many new states appear in 1918?
Cause: four empires collapsed in war and revolution. Idea: self-determination. Action: national movements declared independence. Result: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Finland, the Baltic states and others.
2. Upper Silesia had both Polish and German speakers. How was its border decided?
A plebiscite in 1921, then uprisings and a decision by the League of Nations that divided the region between Germany and Poland.
3. Reborn Poland had three legal systems and several currencies. Why was that a problem, and what was done?
People in different regions lived under different rules and money, so trade and government were hard. Poland unified laws step by step and introduced the złoty in 1924.
4. Compare India in 1947 with Poland in 1918.
Both had to fix borders amid violence, join regions with different systems (princely states / three partitions), write a constitution and build an army and administration. India stayed a democracy; interwar Poland moved to authoritarian rule after 1926.
5. A country has just ended a civil war. List three steps to rebuild it as a democracy.
1) Peace deal and disarmament. 2) New or reformed constitution and free elections. 3) Independent courts and services (schools, health) so people trust the state.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up nation and state. A nation is a people; a state is a political organisation with territory and sovereignty.
- Thinking borders after 1918 were simply drawn on a map in Paris. Plebiscites, uprisings and wars also decided them.
- Thinking independence finishes state building. Laws, money, schools and transport still had to be unified.
- Thinking democracy can be installed quickly from outside. It lasts only when local people trust and run the institutions.