ABSTRACT
A glance at a map of the world shows that the globe is divided over virtually all of its surface into nationstates. When we draw mental maps of Europe, Africa or South America, we are inclined to think of the ways in which those continents are carved up into distinct national units called things like ‘France’, ‘Nigeria’ or ‘Brazil’. The division of the world in this way is, of course, a fundamentally political
phenomenon and major political upheavals such as the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe are symbolised (eventually) by the redrawing of maps as new countries emerge. But while the precise configuration of the world will change from time to time, there can be little doubt that the idea of the nationstate is the key organising principle of global politics. This suggests, as Benedict Anderson argues, that ‘nationness is the most universally legitimate value in the political life of our time’ (Anderson 1991:3).
