The global turn : national encounters with the world

Persistent rumor has it that globalization is doing serious damage to the nation-state at the present historical juncture. Dramatic versions of the narrative even insist that the challenge of globalization to the nation-state is so serious that this pivotal "unit" of the international "system" is in danger of disappearing. In this book, Ulf Hedetoft focuses attention on this Global-National nexus in some of its many differing manifestations, offering both theoretical, historical and analytical thoughts and perspectives on a problem which increasingly dominates academic and public debates. He argues that it makes sense to talk about a Global Turn in international studies, a change which might be as profound and consequential as the well-known Linguistic Turn in the study of society and politics. This does not mean that globalization is ousting the nation-state from the global scene. In fact, the global order needs nation-states, although their position will be radically different and their sovereignty - except for a few cases - without much substance. Populist and romantic nationalism notwithstanding, there is no going back to an earlier and more virginal state of national political or cultural history.