I’m serious. I don’t understand why humans draw imaginary bidders. I don’t understand why humans fight and lose their lives defending those borders. It’s not “cultural identity”. For example, people in either side of Punjab are more similar to each other than say people in the South of India. And further, i don’t understand how countries can be bought and sold like the “Louisiana purchase”. I mean who’s paying for what? It would be great if someone could recommend some books about the idea of nationhood.
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Tbf most of African and middle eastern countries were determined by imperialism and western ignorance. So while they are a “country” on a map, they are very much not a unified area.
All places are concepts. They are convenient when it comes to providing services for the residents. But they become a ridiculous way of dividing people with sometimes horrible consequences (genocide, war, etc.)
In terms of customary international law a country, or to be more precise a state, fulfills four criteria:
1. a permanent population
2. a defined territory
3. government
4. capacity to enter into relations with the other states
Humans are social animals, they live in groups with other humans. These groups used to be largely nomadic, but since the agricultural revolution many groups have become (semi-)sedentary, meaning they settled in a certain place. Some places are more desirable than others, because they are valuable in one way or another. Since the amount of space and resources is limited, this can lead to competition and fighting to get hold of those. Most people want to keep or expand their spaces and resources, so that their own children or kin can enjoy them as well in the future.
‘Imaginary’ borders are agreements between different (groups of) people(s) to demarcate which territory belongs to whom, at least temporarily. Which people control which territory is a result of (local) history and earlier struggles. Sometimes one group of people (or at least their leader) have voluntarily exchanged their claim to a territory in return for something else, like money.
People living in a territory make rules about how humans should live together. They usually also want to make sure that everyone abides by those rules and thus make a system with people to enforce those rules. Additionally, they often build things that are beneficial for all. Those require some form of taxation collection and spending.
People that live together, especially in communities so large that they cannot know everybody themselves directly, often tell a story of their collective past and present to keep them all together. At least in ideas, they should have something in common and one of these aspects is often the territory they call their homeland. A good book recommendation in this regard is *Imagined Communities* by Benedict Anderson.
How reductionist are you looking to get here? This is a very complicated topic we have been debating since antiquity. At the end of the day, in simple terms, a country is comprised of a government and borders. Borders are enforced by the government via the armed forces. Countries that cannot defend their borders are usually swallowed up by foreign countries. America bought the rights to the land west of the Mississippi and no one has successfully taken it from us. It’s that simple. Cultural identity is not necessary at all, though large differences in culture under one government are often a recipe for instability.
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