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Am I? In history we have couple of unwilling experiments when a nation is split in half by culture. But we also have the formation of ethno states of Europe with massive population swaps after wwI and the fall of ottoman empire (and even before that - 1860-s/70-s). And until communism came the slavic ethnostates were chugging along somewhat nicely and in pack and catching up to the western european societies. Something that we couldn't reproduce after the fall of the iron curtain. Of course big part of the old elites were slaughtered, but they were also slaughtered during ottoman times.
I believe in HBD as in your genes influence your IQ, but when I look around the world to me it seems that the culture matters quite more on a state level.
I can see how lower average IQ can easily cripple a state if you don't produce enough talented people to run the place, but from mine first hand experience - it is corruption that matters much more.
I have some bad news for you - the culture is also a product of genetics. Culture does have a role to play, but I highly doubt you were talking about rates of cousin marriage and the prevalence of manorialism several centuries prior. You can actually get a pretty accurate idea of the levels of corruption in European countries by determining whether they fall inside or outside the Hajnal line, which also correlates with a bunch of other features. If you want to learn more, I recommend checking out the following article: https://hbdchick.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/big-summary-post-on-the-hajnal-line/
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