Comment by adastra22
2 days ago
A nation-state is a state whose borders and (originally) citizenship are largely defined by a singular nationality. Israel and Japan, for example. Belgium and Canada are not nation states: they are split into French and Flemish, and Anglo and French nationalities, respectively.
It is a 19th century term that rarely applies these days, but still sees some residual usage.
To complete the other half of the story for those not familiar: most all infosec references to "nation-state attack" instead use it to mean "government backed attack" (regardless if a nation-state is involved in the context).
What if they use it to mean entities that are both states and nations, as opposed to the states, that some nations are composed of.
Anglo, French _and Aboriginal_ nationalities. That's not a minor detail to exclude.
In the concept of a “nation-state”, it is accurate. 20% of Israel’s population is non-Jewish, but it is still accurately described as a Jewish nation.
I’m not defending the morality of this classification scheme, just trying by to be accurate. It dates to the 19th century and is not with the times today, which is why I generally prefer to avoid the term myself.