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States of nature and the nature of states: The fate of nations, the collapse of states and the future of the world

Authors :
Mark T. Berger
Source :
Third World Quarterly. 28:1203-1214
Publication Year :
2007
Publisher :
Informa UK Limited, 2007.

Abstract

This article is an effort to advance the political and intellectual debate on the theory and practice of nation building in an era of collapsing states. I assume at the outset that we are in the midst of a crisis of the nation-state system as a whole and, thus of the vast majority of its constituent polities. This is not a problem that can be addressed by technocratic prescriptions for the creation or stabilisation of particular collapsing or failing nation-states or the rehabilitation of the nation-state system as a whole. In this context the debate about nation building needs to be carried well beyond its current terms of reference. Only by dramatically deepening and broadening the current level of both commitment and understanding of what is at stake can we begin to come to grips with the fate of nations, the collapse of states and the future of the world.

Details

ISSN :
13602241 and 01436597
Volume :
28
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Third World Quarterly
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........c7986cc32c56ce2c68b3274c698b72e6
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590701507677