Why Have States Emerged?

The main reason for states emerging is because of the desire of peoples of the same or similar ethnic background for self-rule. A state is defined as, ‘A political organisation exercising complete authority over a defined territory, .’ Over the past 200 years there has been a considerable increase in the number of states in the world compared to any other time period in history. In 1700 there were 45 states, in 1945 there were about 65 states. Currently, there are around 200 states. Arguably, nationalism has played the biggest role in the emergence of countries as a result of revolutionary ideas originated from philosophers such as John Locke and John Stuart Mill. The French Revolution became a catalyst for transformation in the way distressed people perceived their governments; consequently, leading to revolutions throughout the world. As the 20th century unfolded, the role of the United Nations in support of self-determination led to the increasing number of countries, which is depicted through the process of decolonisation. Subsequently, new states in Africa have confronted many problems since achieving independence; many being due to colonisation. The lack of economic investment, education and continuous tribal warfare has hampered improvements in Africa.

Many historians argue that nationalism has contributed to be a major factor in the emergence of new states. Nationalism is defined as, ‘(The) sentiment of pride in belonging to a community whose members identify with a set of symbols, beliefs and ways of life (for example, common language, history, culture and religion) .’ Since the late 1700's, nationalism has become a significant force in international relations. Nationalistic feelings, particularly the desire of each country to govern itself, have helped to modify the map of Europe several times since the 1800's. Since the late 1940's, nationalism has also transformed the maps of Africa and Asia. One might wonder why nationalism only became a dominant force in the late 1700’s. The reason why is because improvements in communications extended the knowledge of people beyond their village or province. Likewise, the spread of education gave the people the feeling of participation in a common cultural heritage. Through education, people learned of their common background and tradition and immediately began to identify themselves with the historical continuity of the ethnic group . Nationalism in Europe was greatly increased with the influence of the French Revolution in 1789 when loyalty to the king was replaced by loyalty to the ‘fatherland.’ This can be illustrated by the first verse of the French national anthem, ‘Allons enfants de la patrie,’ which the translation into English means ‘March on, children of the fatherland.’ As a result of the French Revolution, France achieved a truly representative system of government with a uniform and united national territory, as well as common laws and institutions . A representative form of government is something that many people throughout the world felt could happen in their own country. As a result of the ideology of the French Revolution (freedom, equality, fraternity), a powerful revolutionary movement swept across South America. Between 1810 and 1820, what is now the territory of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay were liberated from the Spanish. As well as Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru were liberated from Spain and formed sovereign countries. Brazil was finally liberated from Portugal in 1822. Back in Europe, Belgium won its independence from the Netherlands in 1830 and Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832. Later in the century, Central Europe underwent a radical change due to nationalism. An Italian kingdom was created in 1861 and a German empire in 1871 . More recently, at the end of the First World War the defeated Ottoman, Austrian-Hungarian, and German empires began to weaken politically and militarily. This led to demands by nationalistic groups for greater autonomy (local self-government) and usually as far as total independence. Consequently, Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia all became independent countries . All these revolutionary movements have a lot in common. They include the fact that the people fighting for independence all shared a similar cultural background and a desire for self-rule. Another commonality includes the fact that these people had been un-represented in ‘their own’ country for far too long. Self-determination for many of these un-represented people was just a matter of time.

The concept that every people should freely determine their own political status and freely pursue their own economic, social and cultural status have long been something for which patriots have been ready to lay down their lives for . Self-determination is defined by Webster’s dictionary as, “free choice of one's own acts or states without external compulsion; free will. Determination by the people of a territorial unit of their own future political status .” Self-determination is quite different to nationalism, because as with self-determination the people actually want to rule their own political future, whereas nationalism is merely the feeling of pride in belonging to a cultural group (although nationalism often leads to self-determination.) Although the principle of self-determination was practiced following the First World War (with the creation of various countries from the defeated empires), it only became international law in 1945 when the United Nations adopted it into its charter.

Article 1(2) of the United Nations Charter states that one of the purposes of the UN is: "To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace." This article’s main purpose was to bring a speedy end to colonialism, which in 1945 was still practiced, in many parts of Africa and Asia. With this newly adopted article, self-determination for colonised peoples evolved into a right instead of just a principle. The United Nations also became the primary arena in which the claims and counterclaims of self-determination have been advanced and debated. The evolution of self-determination came in 1960 with the, ‘Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,’ usually known just as the, ‘Declaration on Colonial Countries.’ This document proclaims, ‘the necessity of bringing a speedy and unconditional end to colonialism in all its forms and manifestations.’ It also declares that, ‘All peoples have the right to self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. ’ One major problem with this declaration is its use of the sentence, ‘All people have the right to self-determination,’ which was thought of as too vague. For example, this could apply to countries that have not been colonised. It was only until 1970 that this declaration was ‘upgraded’. One article from the 1970 Declaration reads, ‘the right (of self-determination) does not apply to peoples already organized in the form of a State which are not under alien domination.’ These declarations being made into international law have greatly facilitated the ability of colonised peoples to seek self-determination. Between 1945 and 1968, 66 countries have gained independence. Most of them were once colonies in Africa . In 1957, the Gold Coast became the first black African colony to gain its freedom. It won independence from Britain and took the name, Ghana. This trend was followed by Algeria in 1962, which gained its independence from France. By the mid-1960's, Britain, Belgium, and France had freed most of their African colonies . This was a great cause for celebration throughout Africa. For the first time in their history they were in charge of their own political destiny.

Celebrations quickly died out as many problems arose in the late 60s and early 70s. Issues such as backward economies as a result of a scarcity of resources, demographic pressures and constant ethnic conflict forced many newly independent African countries to abandon the liberal democratic policies that originated with their independence. Leaders in many of the new nations could not handle crises that arose in political, social, and economic affairs. Military officers overthrew civilian governments in many countries and set up military governments. In a few countries, military dictatorships emerged. Unhappy citizens often turned to violence as civil wars broke out in Congo, Nigeria, Chad, and other countries . Economic development was often halted due to lack of investments. Foreign private enterprises often regarded investment in such underdeveloped areas as too risky. During the 1970s foreign banks became an alternative solution to many African states’ economic problems. As a result, in the 1980s, debt became a major problem for many African countries as the interest from these loans became too expensive for many African countries. Famine and drought added to the problems of Northern and Central regions of the continent in the 1980s, and millions of refugees left their homes in search of food, increasing the problems of the countries to which they fled. Medical resources, already inadequate, were overwhelmed by epidemics of AIDS (which currently affects around 24 million Africans), cholera and other diseases .

All in all, the emergence of states has greatly transformed the world we live in today. Nationalism has played a huge part in this, enabling people to come together. Over the past 200 years, ‘small’ ethnic groups finally got a say in their own government, usually through self-determination. This can be demonstrated by the emergence of new countries throughout the world. The United Nations has also been a powerful force in the role of decolonisation in Asia and especially Africa. Decolonisation for the first time enabled Africans to decide their own political destiny. This came with a price though. Without previous foreign investments (from colonising countries like Britain, France and Portugal), many African countries plunged into great debts, low living standards and lack of proper education. One solution to helping African’s problem would be to force countries that were greatly responsible for these problems (because of colonisation) to spend a medium amount of their GDP on helping Africa improve its present economic and social situation.

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