Choose the statement that justifies- 'States need the nation as much or even more than nations need states'?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → ‘Nation’ is the most accepted or proper justification for a state.
Option (1) ‘Nation’ is the most accepted or proper justification for a state. — Correct. In the modern era, democracy and nationalism are the dominant sources of political legitimacy. So today ‘the nation’ is the most accepted or proper justification for a state, and existing states find it more and more necessary to claim that they represent a nation. That is how states ‘need’ the nation as much as, or even more than, nations need states.
Option (2) ‘State’ is the ultimate source of legitimacy of the Nation. — Incorrect. It is ‘the people’, not the state, who are the ultimate source of legitimacy of the nation. Putting ‘state’ in place of ‘the people’ also turns the relation round, as if the nation needed the state for its legitimacy.
Option (3) Dictatorship is the dominant source of political legitimacy. — Incorrect. The dominant sources of political legitimacy today are democracy and nationalism. A dictatorship rests on force, not on the claim to represent a nation and its people.
Option (4) States are threatened by cultural diversity. — Incorrect. States do feel threatened by community identities and often try to eliminate cultural diversity. That explains how states treat communities, not why a state needs to claim a nation to justify itself.
NCERT (2025-26): “Communities, Nations and Nation-States … In short, today it is hard to define a nation in any way other than to say that it is a community that has succeeded in acquiring a state of its own. Interestingly, the opposite has also become increasingly true. Just as would-be or aspiring nationalities are now more and more likely to work towards forming a state, existing states are also finding it more and more necessary to claim that they represent a nation. One of the characteristic features of the modern era (recall the discussion of modernity from Chapter 4 of your Class XI textbook, Understanding Society) is the establishment of democracy and nationalism as dominant sources of political legitimacy. This means that, today, ‘the nation’ is the most accepted or proper justification for a state, while ‘the people’ are the ultimate source of legitimacy of the nation. In other words, states ‘need’ the nation as much or even more than nations need states.…” |