THE NATURE OF POLITICS 13

STATES, NATIONS AND RACES.

But it is not only the economic structure of a society which
helps to explain its politics. There are different races of men,
each with its special characteristics; there are different languages
and beliefs. Further, the States Of to-day were formed at different
times, and their politics bear the marks of their date of origin.
The chief importance of these facts is that they affect the
relations between Government and people. The special loyalty
which a man feels to his own district or race or faith may conflict
with his loyalty to the State; the form of Government must
allow for this if the goodwill of the citizens is to be kept.

Of the forty-eight States of the American Union, thirteen are
older than the U.S.A. itself; of the rest, some have been created
by the migration of Europeans of many races to the open spaces
of the West, some have been added by purchase. Each has
a history of its own, and many have long traditions. The U.S.A.
is a Federation; that is to say, the Government of the whole, or
Federal Government, is not a sovereign ruler over the various
parts; its rights, and the rights of each State, are exactly defined,
and cannot be altered by the Federal Government alone, but
only by the people as a whole, acting in a way laid down by the
American Constitution. Contrast this with the Government of
the United Kingdom, which is Unitary. Wide powers are given
to towns and counties; special provision is made, in certain
respects, for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; but the
Parliament of the whole has the power to alter these arrange-
ments at will. Switzerland is made up of cantons, some of which
are older than the Federation; and its people .differ in language
and religion and race. Although these differences are also found
in Yugo-Slavia, the Government is not Federal, and there has
been great discontent among the races and faiths which are in
a minority.

Federation is a way of getting the advantages of living together
even when there are great obstacles to unity. Peoples of different
race and language may also be joined in an Empire. This