ABSTRACT
The notion that nations, usually understood as linguistic units, must become states if the world is to be peaceful is one of the leading prejudices of modernity. It is based on the confusion (particularly so in English) between “nation” and “state,” on functional theories that see nations as necessarily tending toward statehood, and on moral arguments concerning “self-determination.” This book argues that the historical evolution of the international system over the past 200 or so years, rather than the arguments outlined above have led the drive toward nations becoming states, making this one of the most powerful “idées forces” of modernity
