THE NATION STATE AND NATIONALISM IN THE
THE FUTURE GEOPOLITICAL WORLD ORDER
This research paper describes the likely balance of
geopolitical power 20 years from now. During the next 20 years,
the balance of world power will continue to be governed primarily
by the relationships between a pentarchy, the United States, a
combination of nation states in Western Europe, Russia, Japan and
China. The relative economic power of these nations will change
and the major nations of East Asia will assume greater relative
importance. The geopolitical power balance will also be
influenced by various cross currents, including globalization
of the world economy and the rise of nationalism and other
threats to international order and domestic legitimacy and
tranquility. These trends are likely to reduce the relative power
of the traditional capitalist nation states, including the
The Shift Toward a Multi Polar World
During the seventeenth and eighteeth centuries, strong
territorially based nation states emerged in Western Europe "as
the primary focus of national identity and problem solving
capability."1Rivalries among the principal states of Western
Europe for hegemony in Europe and later for control of the
natural resources and markets on its periphery were the
principal source of international conflict during the period up
to 1945. Between 1945 and 1990, international affairs were
dominated by the global rivalry of the United States and the
Soviet Union, in alliance with lesser powers. After the end of
the Cold War, the United States emerged as the world's dominant
military superpower, but the balance of power increasingly
shifted toward a multi polar alignment of forces for a number of
reasons: (1) hegemony by one power, such as by the Romans in pre
modern times, the British in the late 19th century and...