Customer Reviews

End of the Nation-State

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Guéhenno's lucid and imaginative discussion in The End of the Nation-State presents a collection of arguments that are interwoven so neatly that the book often reads as smoothly as a good novel. But the character of the book is as much a clear argument as it is a mosaic of visionary speculation. The narrative brings us Guéhenno's thoughtful vision of a future "imperial" world, with its blurring geographical boundaries, changing poles of authority, and networking global society. Perhaps in a derogatory analysis, his synthesis of argument (without citation) and speculation would be construed as fiction, but it should not be. Intimations of the coming age, which Guéhenno finds in the politics of the United States, Japan, Lebanon, France, Italy, Israel and Palestine, illustrate the empirically grounded theorizing and perspicacious observation the author brings to important, and perhaps previously unnoticed, changes in world affairs. While it is always easy to disparage an author's efforts at clairvoyance, most of Guéhenno's hypotheses in this book are presented so cogently, and often poetically, that many of his future scenarios, however chilling and undesirable, seem almost inevitable.

A book of incredible reach and quite impressive assertions. For anyone interested in the future of the state, the 'new economy' or the way mankind is going it is a must-read! It touches nearly every subject currently being discussed on those areas. For all the praise regarding the provocativness of his theses, Guehenno fails to answer a vital question. What AFTER the state? No clear vision is given on how the tasks fused in that unique organisation will be transferred. Guehenno shares this problem with his fellow globalizers, such as Kenichi Ohmae. On the whole it is a refreshing book which seeks to explain the current economical-technological revolution and provides a mind-boggling insight into how a networked world might look like.

This is a great book for its analysis but its future scenarios fail to account for what may be the most likely in the end, simply because the book basically is an extrapolation of present trends (it reminds me of the CIA reports of summer 1989 which foresaw another 50 years of communism). It is not a feat to draw a beautiful extrapolation, as it is perfectly logical and rational, but it still fails in seeing the signs of an emerging global democratic order. Guehenno forgets that history often breaks with trends. He does not explore what may be the most likely non-linear historical break: the coming establishment of a world democracy with a functional world parliament. Ironically, Guehenno is still a prisoner of the nation-state mentality in failing to recognize the obvious signs of emerging global democracy, in failing to see the global civil society movements are just a pillar of what will be a peaceful global revolution, one - as Thomas Paine said - based on reason, one which will complete the historical process which entered its modern phase with the American and French revolutions. The calls for global democracy of anti-globalization protesters ("No globalization without representation"...), the desperate calls for better global governance from the global elite (Davos, UN, World Bank etc.), the emergence of initiatives like the Campaign for World Democracy (with supporters from all parts of society, including business, government officials, MPS, Presidents - Toledo of Peru-, civil society etc.), the Committee for a World Parliament (with Mandela, Delors etc. on board) are faint but unmistakable signs that the concept of world democracy is a rising force. Any book on the future of the nation state which does not address that fails on the most desirable, and certainly the best, scenario for the future that can miminize global geopolitical tensions and deal with global catastrophes, whether natural or man-made. In the end, this book just like the celebrated "Empire", is a superb intellectual exercise but it will be seen in a few years as just half of what it should have been, as both unimaginative and off the mark. But its main merit is to awaken people to the fact, that indeed, the nation-state as we have known it for 350 years is dead. In fact, it has been dead for a while but its death throes are taking a long time. Yet to keep stability, people need an identity which nations, though not states, provide. So we will see in the future a multiplication of nations while we see the world uniting in a global democracy, one of several layers of democracy of course with most existing states remaining, just as the EU did not mean the end of its constituent states, or the new African Union does not mean the end of its constituent states.

Guehenno was among the first to consider the impact of the flow of information on government borders. He puts the situation into historical perspective.