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I maintain that in the modern world, holding together a large Nation State is extremely difficult. Unconventional warfare can disrupt social control, energy, food supply, etc. If Russian divisions marched on Europe, they could be met on the field of battle and quite possibly defeated. But if war is fought in a more subtle way, governments can probably be collapsed more easily than many suspect.

On a different topic, if anonymity can be achieved on the net, and if digital money is improved (ex. Bitcoin), then tax collection becomes impossible. Does the government know who you are? Where you work? How much money you have? Imagine a breakthrough where the fruits of your labor are known only to you. That would also collapse a modern nation state.

I think there is a good chance that the world will progress toward a vast number of City States. Small, manageable, resilient. People belong because they want to belong, and labor and pay taxes to the extent that they want to in order to build a functioning society -- and the benefits and flaws are visible right before their eyes, so saying "it's not my fault/not my problem" becomes much less satisfying.

I think the time of Nation States with 300 million residents, and thousand mile imaginary borders may be passing.

I maintain that in the modern world, holding together a large Nation State is extremely difficult. Unconventional warfare can disrupt social control, energy, food supply, etc... governments can probably be collapsed more easily than many suspect... I think the time of Nation States with 300 million residents, and thousand mile imaginary borders may be passing.

James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg made these points in their 1991 book, The Great Reckoning. Their overall theme was that there are short (60-80 years) and long (500 years) of history that illustrate societal evolution and devolution as well as transitions between the great powers that dominate world affairs. One of their most immediately relevant points was that the costs of chaos are growing incredibly cheaper, while the costs of maintaining order are growing ever more prohibitively expensive. Davidson and Rees-Mogg argued that today's devolutionary forces spell doom for all multicultural societies - including the USA, Russia and even Canada - and the rise of smaller, more homogenous nations and city-states. It is a future of worldwide Balkanization.