An independent political unit with a centralized authority that makes claim to sole legal, political, and economic jurisdiction over a region with defined boundaries

• Nation

• Autonomous region
• Federal government
• State

A community o people bound to a homeland and possessing a common identity based on shared cultural traits such as language, ethnicity, and religion

• Tribe
• Nation
• Clan
• Union

The ideal political geographical unit; one in which a nation's geographic boundaries (a people and its culture) exactly matches the state's territorial boundaries (governance and authority)

• Stateless nation

• Nation-state
• Multistate Nation

• Multinational State

Sense of belonging to and self-identifying with a national culture; people who derive a significant part of their social identity from a sense of belonging to a nation

• Global Citizenship
• Cultural Identity
• National Identity
• Nationalism

An ethnic group or nation that does not possess its own state and is not the majority population in any nation-state

• nation-state

• stateless nation
• multistate nation

• multinational state

A country containing multiple national, ethnic, and religious groups within its boundaries

• nation-state

• stateless nation
• multistate nation

• multinational state

Ethnic groups territorially divided by one or more international boundaries

• nation-state

• stateless nation
• multistate nation

• multinational state

A subdivision or dependent territory of a country that has a degree of self-government in its decision making

• autonomous region

• nation
• state
• province

A nation's ability to determine its own statehood and form its own allegiances and government; the freedom of culturally distinct groups to govern themselves in their own territories and form their own states

• Sovereignty
• Self-determination
• Autonomy
• Self-governance

The movement of power from the central government to regional governments within the state

• Revolution
• Evolution
• Devolution
• Institution