Nation-states and social theory

This entry seeks to shed some light onto some of the most significant difficulties that the social sciences face as they try to understand the rise and main features of modern nation-states. The entry is divided into two sections. In the first, it offers an overview of what has become known as the problem of ‘methodological nationalism’. In the second section, it elaborates further on three dimensions that are central to a more nuanced conceptualisation of nation-states: their historicity, their sociocultural diversity and their normative ambivalence.