Johannes Lenhard 
Is globalization causing the decline of the nation-state? 

Essay from the year 2009 in the subject Politics – Political Theory and the History of Ideas Journal, grade: 1.3, Royal Holloway, University of London, language: English, abstract: Globalization alone is not causing the decline of the nation-state – not a single ‘trend’ is able to reduce the power of the most important actor in the international system.
Rather, different developments need to be taken into account when examining the situation of the nation-state. After having analyzed in the first part the way, major globalization-developments, like global capitalism, influence the nation-state, I will describe in the second and third part two other movements: internationalization and regionalization. Both are ‘labelled’ with a national/transnational ambiguity, on the one hand strengthening and on the other hand weakening the nation-state. Within the conclusion, I will then argue, that the nation-state is indeed ‘under attack’ – but not only by globalization – and that it has to cope with a changing nature and differing tasks.