A much more current view of nationalism than in Anderson might read as follows:
The national world order is a distinct from, and in opposition to, other world orders. It claims, and effectively controls, all land surface on Earth. The national world order is an autonomy-minimizing world order. It sets rigid limits on which states are legitimate, and in effect suppresses all non-nation states, and refuses to grant them superiority or soveriengty.
States are historically linked to one single tangible territory. Despite its association with war, a world order of nation states minimizes territorial conflict - at least compared to a world of expansionist universalist states (empires of conquest).
State formation is limited to one type of group: nations or peoples. These groups have distinct characteristics: permanence, transgenerationality, and long-term convergence around a core culture that survives temporary change.
In consequence, states in the national world order have the following characteristics:
1) they are permanent: no temporary states exist, although...
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