Editing Multinational state (section)

{{Short description|State comprising multiple nations}}
A '''multinational state''' or a '''multinational [[political union|union]]''' is a [[sovereignty|sovereign entity]] that comprises two or more [[nation]]s or [[state (polity)|states]]. This contrasts with a [[nation state]], where a single nation accounts for the bulk of the population.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} Depending on the definition of "nation" (which touches on [[ethnicity]], language, and political identity), a multinational state is usually [[multiculturalism|multicultural]] or [[multilingualism|multilingual]], and is geographically composed of more than one country, such as the [[countries of the United Kingdom]].

Historical multinational states that have since split into multiple states include the [[Ottoman Empire]], [[British Raj|British India]], [[Qing dynasty|Qing Empire]], [[Czechoslovakia]], the [[Soviet Union]], [[Yugoslavia]], the [[United Arab Republic]] and [[Austria-Hungary]] (a dual monarchy of two multinational states). Some analysts have described the [[European Union]] as a multinational state or a potential one.<ref name="Built to Last">Kelemen, R. Daniel. (2007). {{cite web |url= http://www.princeton.edu/~smeunier/Kelemen%20Memo.pdf |title= Built to Last? The Durability of EU Federalism? |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130120153312/http://www.princeton.edu/~smeunier/Kelemen%20Memo.pdf |archive-date= 2013-01-20 }} In ''Making History: State of the European Union'', Vol. 8, edited by [[Sophie Meunier]] and Kate McNamara, Oxford University Press, p. 52.</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gHw9M_817nwC&pg=PA74|title=A Union of Diversity: Language, Identity and Polity-Building in Europe|first=Peter A.|last=Kraus|date=2008|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=71|isbn=978-1-139-46981-4}}</ref>

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