Which of the following statements best explains the relationship between a nation and a state?

A nation becomes distinct from other communities when it acquires a state of its own, forming the basis of a nation-state.

The correct answer is Option 2: A nation becomes distinct from other communities when it acquires a state of its own, forming the basis of a nation-state.

Option 1: A nation is primarily a cultural community, while a state is a political organisation that provides it with sovereign authority. — Partially correct but not the best answer. A nation and a state do have different meanings, but this option only defines them separately. It does not explain why the two concepts are joined together to form the term nation-state.

Option 2: A nation becomes distinct from other communities when it acquires a state of its own, forming the basis of a nation-state. — Correct. The state is the criterion that comes closest to distinguishing a nation from other communities. Unlike other communities, nations are communities that have a state of their own. Therefore, the terms nation and state are joined together as nation-state.

Option 3: A state represents a nation only when all people living within its territory share the same national identity. — Incorrect. This reflects the idea of a perfect one-to-one relationship between nation and state, but such a situation is not always true. A single state may contain different nationalities and communities.

Option 4: A nation and a state generally develop together because every political community eventually acquires its own state. — Incorrect. Not every nation necessarily has its own state. People belonging to a nation may live in different states, and some nations may not have a separate state of their own.

NCERT: The criterion that comes closest to distinguishing a nation is the state. Unlike the other kinds of communities mentioned before, nations are communities that have a state of their own. That is why the two are joined with a hyphen to form the term nation-state. Generally speaking, in recent times there has been a one-to-one bond between nation and state (one nation, one state; one state, one nation). But this is a new development. It was not true in the past that a single state could represent only one nation, or that every nation must have its own state. For example, when it was in existence, the Soviet Union explicitly recognised that the peoples it governed were of different ‘nations’ and more than one hundred such internal nationalities were recognised. Similarly, people constituting a nation may actually be citizens or residents of different states. For example, there are more Jamaicans living outside Jamaica than in Jamaica – that is, the population of ‘non-resident’ Jamaicans exceeds that of ‘resident’ Jamaicans. A different example is provided by ‘dual citizenship’ laws. These laws allow citizens of a particular state to also – simultaneously – be citizens of another state. Thus, to cite one instance, Jewish Americans may be citizens of Israel as well as the USA; they can even serve in the armed forces of one country without losing their citizenship in the other country.