Abstract
This essay deals with one of the most controversial questions in today's social science debates: the relationship between the nation-state and globalization. Globalization, is understood quite loosely here as a series of contemporary and unprecedented developments in the economic, social and cultural integration of world market and societies. In other words, a general sense of the shortening of distance between here and there, us and the other, which implies a new definition of the field of social relationships; a definition that is much less centered on the national level and takes more account of the global. Given these conditions, the end of the nation-state may be at hand. According to this view, the nation-state, which has been the only entity of international importance since the Westphalia treaties of 1648, is now the subject of increasing strains. It is doomed to lose more and more of its power in the twenty-first century. How then, may the territorially limited and ideologically outdated nation-state survive in the realm of worldwide action and global participation? One should always be cautious about seemingly-obvious statements, especially on issues of national reach.
