THE NATION-state as an organizing principle is a concept centuries old, that traces its origins back to the Treaty of Westphalia, but thanks to globalization, global institutions, technological advancements, among others, that model has become increasingly obsolete.
Behind the idea of the nation-state is sovereignty, and in order to be sovereign, a state must have power. In the past, sovereign power meant having power over the local army, economy and the institutions. This was still possible in the 20th century when weapons, goods and institutions could still be produced locally, perhaps with the help of very close allies, but this is no longer true in the 21st century.
Energy, infrastructure, communications, international finances, internet access, etc… All these things now require tech, and those come from a very small number of countries. Even a small country can fall without one of these. Remember Nepal? Its government fell because of internet censorship. Now, imagine if any country – large or small – failed to deliver other necessities.
The trouble for the nation-state is that only China and the US have the infrastructure, logistics and tech base to produce their own tech (and even then they could not do it all on their own), and they are trying to decouple. If or when that happens, countries all over the world will have to side with one or the other, and become protectorates/vassals. The price for that relationship is access to tech.
And tech is not a just matter of buying things. It’s being plugged into a network. Modern technology does not work without plugging to a particular network. It has a logic and a pattern that exists beyond what nation-states can offer.
In this sense, the nation-state is obsolete. It’s obsolete because, among other reasons, most of them cannot create or sustain tech and therefore is not capable of being wholly sovereign anymore./PN
