[jfengel]

"Nation state" is used colloquially just to mean "country", but it has a connotation of formality or even oppression. Where "country" just sounds like a place where people live, "nation state" has a kind of academic, officious sound.

So it's used in a context like this to imply something nefarious, treating a country a bit like a dystopian sci-fi megacorp.

That doesn't make the assertion wrong. It would have been equally valid with the term "country". Just explaining (over-explaining, probably) why the OP chose that particular phrase: it has a particular emotional impact.