The distinguish between state and nation Following are the main differences between state and nation:

(i) The elements of the state are definite: populations, fixed territory, government and sovereignty.The elements of a nation are not definite. Somewhere common language helps constitute a nation, somewhere else, common race makes a nation. Common religion, for example, was a factor in making Pakistan as a nation;it was common language in the case of the United States as a nation whereas it was common heritage that made India a nation.

(ii) A state may be larger than a nation. The former USSR had, within it, more than a hundred nationalities. Conversely, a nation may be larger than a state; a nationality may spread over two states. The Korean nationality is spread over two states: North Korea and South Korea.

(iii) Nation and state are distinct entities. A nation may not be always a state; India was not a state before August, 1947. A state may not always be a nation, Austria - Hungary was a state but not a nation before World War I because the heterogeneous people did not form a culturally homogeneous people.

(iv) There is an element of force connected binding. with the state. The state's laws are There is a coercion exercised by the state if its authority is defied. In the case of the nation, there is the element of persuasion.

(v) The state is a state because it is sovereign. The nation is not a state if it is not sovereign. Sovereignty is a chief characteristic of the state; it is not a feature of the nation. A nation becomes a nation-state when the nation attains statehood.

(vi) Laws bind the people together in a state; sentiments and emotions bind the people in a nation. The unity of the state is always external; the unity of the nation is internal. In the case of the state, unity is imposed; it comes from above, through laws. In the case of nation, unity comes from within, through emotions.

(vii) The state is a political concept while the nation is a cultural, a psychological and a spiritual body. Hayes says, "Nation is primarily cultural, and only incidentally political". What it means is that nation is not a political concept, it is only a spiritual.