The term ‘nation-state’ is a mix of two linked, though different concepts, ‘nation’ and ‘state’. Nations are groups of people who believe themselves to be linked together in some way, based on a shared history, language, religion, other cultural practices, or links to a particular place. States are legal and political entities, with power over the people living inside their borders. In this way, states are associated with territorial sovereignty. The concept of a nation-state fuses together the nation—the community, and the state—the territory (Gilmartin in C. Gallaher et al. 2009), yet the nation-state rarely occurs in practice. Indeed, Walby (2003) Sociol. 37, 3 argues that the nation-state is more mythical than real: there are more nations than states; several key examples of presumed nation-states are actually empires; there are diverse and significant polities in addition to states, including the EU and some organized religions; and polities overlap, and rarely politically saturate the territory where they are located. Nonetheless, D. Slater (2004) argues that as the nation-state is an important crossroads between the global and the local; it is the critical site for geopolitical study, and Rodrik (2013) Econ. Geog. 89, 1, 1 argues that the nation-state is the main determinant of the global distribution of income, the primary locus of market-supporting institutions, and the chief repository of personal attachments and affiliations. See Mountz (2003) Antipode 35, 3 on a poststructuralist approach to geographies of the nation-state. Nation-building has as its aim the unification of its people, via state action, to promote stability and viability. See Schatz (2003) Kellogg Institute Working Paper #303 on nation-building in Kazakhstan, which, at final independence comprised 39% ethnic Kazakhs. See also A. Kapur (2002) p. 129 on India and nation-building.