On Separating Nations and States

From Questions of Courage by Nathaniel Williams

June 27, 2025 · 24 min · Episode 33

About this episode

This episode explores the differences between nations and states and the conflicts arising from their fusion.

Nationalism is one of the most powerful aspects of political life, connected with the defining conflicts of today. This episode is dedicated to exploring the differences between nations and states, how they are confused, and how they have come to be seen as intrinsically bound up together in recent centuries. While there is a largely unconscious conventional notion that nations should ideally have their own states, there is a way to look at things that reveals the opposite. It shows that the fusion of nations and states is not an ideal but a source of conflict and the degradation of national culture itself, and a central problem of political thoughts and life today. References: Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism . London - New York: Verso, 2006. Gottlieb, Gidon. Nation Against State: A New Approach to Ethnic Conflicts and the Decline of Sovereignty . Council on Foreign Relations, 1993. Jefferson, Thomas. Thomas Jefferson: Writings (LOA #17): Autobiography / Notes on the State of Virginia / Public and Private Papers / Addresses / Letters . Library of America, 1984. Steiner, Rudolf. Towards Social Renewal: Rethinking the…

People in this episode

Host: Nathaniel Williams

Topics covered

nationalism
political life
nations vs states
cultural conflict
political thought

Keywords

nationalism
nations
states
political conflict
cultural degradation
ethnic conflicts

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Goetheanum, Goetheanum TV