Lecture 6
                                            5 April 2006

                                  Globalisation and Governance I:

                                 The Demise of the `Nation-State'?

                                           `Nation-state'

*      The modern `nation-state' owes its current predominance to the historical fact that its
Western European antecedents were militarily and economically so successful -- an `example' that
others followed.

*      The predominance and ongoing persistence of the term is indebted to the two hundred
years-long state-building process of Western Europe.

                              Political map of the world shows states:

                                           `Nation-state'

*      the ideas of `nation' and `state' have been so successfully merged that they are usually
treated as synonymous

*      the term `nation-state' implies that the cultural and the political units correspond e that
the `people' who are ruled by the institutions of the state are culturally (ethnically) homogeneous
-- when in fact:

*      only nations which have their own state can be described as `nation-states' and the reality
is that these are very few

                                         Nations and states

*      Multiethnic, multinational, multicultural states (Belgium; UK; Nigeria; Canada; Spain...)

*      `Nations without states' (Catalans); `stateless' (Scots); `small nations' or `non-dominant
ethnic groups' (most EE nations)

*      Ethnically homogeneous `nation-states': Japan? Iceland? Albania? Armenia? Greece? Korea?
Lesotho? Poland?



                                            G and states

*      The `crisis' of the national state

*      The national state is besieged from the top (by growing interdependence of the world; changes
brought by G) & from below (pressures of identity politics; rediscovering identities)

                                    The end of the national era?

*      Can states preserve their sovereignty intact? (increasing cross-border economic activity and
regulation; politics being conducted at supranational and sub-national level...)

*      Will belonging to the nation (national identity) be replaced by other forms of community that
offer alternative focus?

                                       G and the growth of N

*      G reduces relative power of states -- more difficult to stop/prevent the rise of minority
nationalisms within their borders

*      Ethnic and national movements can exploit transnational networks to advance their cause

*      It is premature to consider nationalism outmoded form of consciousness



                                        Beyond nationalism?

*      Growth of non-territorial identities and cosmopolitan solidarities; increase in cultural
`hybridisation' (`creolisation')

*      The nation is no longer the only form of community that counts for many people (rise of
non-national frameworks of belonging along the lines of class, gender, race, religion, sexual
orientation...)

*      The state is fast becoming outmoded by economic globalisation

                                                But...

*      Economic G has not yet overrun the state

*      Not transcendence of the state as such but a transformation of its functions

*      Nation continues to be important source of political and cultural identity for many people

*      Security and identity are felt by many to be under threat, hence "the rise of nationalism" `a

*      Recent revival of ethnicity and N interpreted as resistance to the disruptive impact of G

*      Post 9/11 a series of drastic national security measures are in opposition to the idea of a
borderless world

                                    Reading list for Lecture 7:



*      Has Globalization Gone Too Far?  Dani Rodrik

*      The Role of the State in the Age of Globalisation Kofi Annan