One thing to think about is, what is a state? It has to do with the fact that there are no nations in a natural way... in nature. After all, when you go to the border between two nations, like France and Germany for example, except for the man-made fence, the land looks the same on both sides of the border. No borders - no states - in nature.
So, what is a state? A state is really a state of mind. Then people write down their state of mind, and call it a nation state, because they wouldn't be able to remember it for long if they didn't write it down.
A state is simply a state of mind that is written down so that many people can adhere to it.
A state is a state of mind.