India, April 18 -- In the context of the ongoing Iran war, I wonder if people have thought about the difference in intrinsic strengths between nation-States and civilisational-States. In an age where geopolitical conflicts are reduced only to metrics of military power or economic heft, conventional strategists sometimes ignore this difference.

A nation-State, in its modern conception, is a political construct. It is defined by clearly demarcated borders, a sovereign government, and a sense of shared identity that is often consciously cultivated. But most nation-States are relatively recent creations, emerging from the churn of history over the past few centuries - products of treaties, wars, colonial withdrawals, and ideological movement...