"Is it not true that the nation state and state sovereignty will be with us for some time? But in what form?" (Forsythe, 2006, 26) State sovereignty will be a universal application for many years to come despite globalization in all its subsequent public and private forms.
Much of the literature on globalization has overlooked the effect of globalization on the state; globalization has produced a new "globalized state" -- changing rather than eroding sovereignty (Ian Clark 1999). As some scholars have argued, power is moving from weak states to strong states, from all states to markets, and away from state authority entirely in certain domains and functions (Strange 1998; Schmidt 2000). At the same time, the state is the main administrator of globalization. As one partisan of globalization puts it, globalization means that the quality of the state matters more, since the state is "the operating system for global capitalism" (Friedman 1999: 134). Thus, the struggle for human rights in a global era is now from above, from below -- and still through the middle. (Brysk, 2002, 9)
The state will likely be expected to live a more transparent existence and to uphold standards of universal human rights, especially as more and more nations accept such virtues as necessary for global human collaboration. Yet the limitations of enforcement will likely continue, unchecked as the world continues to develop definitions and debates of the needs and standards of universal challenges of nation building.
References
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