Expansion and Fragmentation: Internationalization, Political Change and the Transformation of the Nation-state

Is the end of the nation-state approaching, now that the international economy takes less and less notice of borders between countries and the European Union has already acquired so much political power? What does national autonomy mean when governments delegate any number of powers to international organizations? Internationalization leads to political change, and the position of the nation-state appears to be undergoing a radical process of erosion. The surprising conclusion of this book is that the political significance of the state will not be lost. The analyses show that both expansion and fragmentation of political power are characteristics of fundamental political change. While it is true that the state is delegating authority and that internationalization is limiting autonomy, the state is also finding new forms of cooperation and coordination, both nationally and internationally, to preserve and even to strengthen its power and autonomy. Contrary to widely held assumptions, the idea of a progressive weakening of the nationstate does not prove tenable. This title is available in the OAPEN Library - http://www.oapen.org.

Table of Contents:
Contents - 6 Notes on Contributors - 8 1 Introduction - 12 2 Ringing the Changes: Mutations in the Idea of Political Change - 24 3 The Limits of Theory: Detecting Contemporary Global Change and Predicting the Future of the States System - 44 4 National Political Systems: the Changing Boundaries of Politics? - 72 5 Changing Shape, Changing Form: Liberal Democracy without the Classical State - 90 6 International Organizations as Sources of Political Change - 108 7 The Impact of European Integration on Domestic Political Change and National Autonomy - 126 8 The Irrelevance of Globalization: the State and the Energy Sector in Russia's Transformation - 146 9 European Tripartism: Convergence in Topics, Persistent Divergence in Decision Making - 162 10 Global Sisterhood and Political Change: the Unhappy 'Marriage' of Women's Movements and Nation States - 178 11 Conclusion: Developing the Research Agenda - 196 Bibliography - 208

About the Author :
Kees van Kersbergen is professor of political Systems. Robert H. Lieshout professor of Political Science, and Grahame Locke is professor of Political Theory and Administrative and Organization Studies. The authors are affiliated with the Catholic University of Nijmegen.