In-Class Assignment
The Search for the True Nation-State

Due: November 4

(50 points)

You have been assigned by last name to the following regions to research and present to class.

Name Assigned region:
A-C
  • Europe/ Russia & Former USSR
D-J
  • Central and South America
K-P
  • Africa
R-T
  • East and Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific
U-Z
  • South Asia and the Middle East (west of Bangladesh)

Within that region, find the best example of a pure nation-state, and the best example of a multinational state with a pluralist society and present your findings to class. Be prepared to explain your choices.

Review and study the definitions for nation, state, and nation-state as explained in your textbook. Then do online research to examine the information on ethnicity, language, and culture for each country in your assigned region.

Provide each example with demographic statistics and/or a description of the country's population. If possible, try to find out what criteria are used to define each country's sense of nationality and citizenship. (parent's ancestry, race, religion, ethnicity, language, wealth, place you were born, etc.)

Choose a country for each of the following categories and then describe their people(s):

1) the most multinational country in the region.

_____________________

2) the country that best fits the description of the true nation-state (the borders of the state best coincide with the occupation of the single nation).

_____________________

Please compare the data about nations in library research and on the internet

Ethnologue database: http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/
U.S. State Dept.: http://www.state.gov/www/regions/independent_states.html
United Nations: http://www.unsystem.org/
CIA World Fact Book http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
How Many Countries Are in the World? Matt Rosenberg:
http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa091399.htm?pid=2820&cob=home
World Atlas Matt Rosenberg



**Don't forget to tell me where you got your information in a bibliography.