Institution
The Nation-State
Explore in the Atlas →A standing social form (Castoriadis's instituted imaginary; Searle's status function 'X counts as a sovereign state') that fuses a people imagined as a nation with a bounded, sovereign territory and apparatus of rule. It is among the most architecturally elaborated of institutions: parliaments, capitols, borders, embassies, ministries and national monuments give the abstract claim of sovereignty visible, durable and inhabitable form.
Power Collectivity Country
Details
- Origin
- Europe (then globalised)
- Register
- Instituted
Classifications
- Holder
- Communal intergenerational
- Source of authority
- Reason
- Subject
- Human centred
- Political position
- Hegemonic
- Degree of codification
- Highly codified
- Mode of transmission
- Text drawing
- Knowledge type
- Propositional
- Epistemic cluster
- Western philosophical
Connections
- relates to Panopticism (disciplinary power)
Referenced by
- Imagined Communities legitimates
- The Modern Moral Order institutes
- The Demos institutes
- Popular Sovereignty legitimates
- The Sociotechnical Imaginary stabilises
Sources
- n.d..
- n.d..
Cite this entry
First published May 2026Last revised Jul 2026
CLAD. "The Nation-State." Atlas of Architectural Thought. CLAD, 2026. https://www.cl-ad.com.au/research/atlas/institution/the-nation-state/. Accessed July 17, 2026.