The End of the Nation-State

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In this highly readable book, Jean-Marie Guehenno argues that the information age undermines our current legal and political systems. With the global community in instantaneous contact, he contends, power no longer operates hierarchically from the top down. Instead, individuals are part of complex networks in which wealth and power stem from the sheer multiplication of connections. This development has serious consequences for democracy as we know it. Guehenno explores institutions like the European Union that attempt to respond to this new age, arguing that the failure of such organizations shows that no political system offers a complete answer. Ethnicity, religion, race, ideology, corruption, and tribalism threaten the viability of the current system, and all offer a possible basis for community in a world no longer dominated by two rival superpowers.