What makes a nation state? It becomes more difficult to define as sovereignty is shared in management of public global assets and for economic and social pragmatism.
Think about money for a moment. A nation’s currency might be considered sacrosanct, but the reality of economics is that nations have given up their currencies to save time and money (such as the Euro in Europe) and national currencies will become ever more closely tied to the price of energy. And the printing of money is not the exclusive priviledge of the state – banks make loans many times the value of their cash reserves, towns have issued community currencies, retail giants issue credit cards. So how far from being a nation are these big companies? They have economic weight that matches that of nations – people dependent on the company, political influence, credit creation ability. They don’t have military intentions, though they can cause death by abuse of consumer gullibility, negligence or plain malevolent acts like dumping toxins in to ground or water. Perhaps the only hurdle ow is issuing a passport. And that may not be so far away – couldn’t there be a virtual nation? Under the auspices of the UN? Provided it fulfils certain requirements? The rise of the corporate nation state poses some serious issues for all of us.
Comments