ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been an increase in empirical analyses and political theory studies relating to the territorial organization of states and national pluralism. The state is no longer a closed, uniform entity; it cannot be. It has ceased to be the domain of a single, sovereign nation. In all spheres of social life, from the economic to the cultural, states have inevitably become more porous, open and interactive. Diversity and polycentricism characterize a world that is at the same time global and local. The state has become a much more complex political organization which is much weaker in economic terms and less able to behave, in political terms, as the supreme authority of government, as well as being overwhelmed by the movements of capital and migratory processes. This weakening of the state is both the cause and the effect of a reawakening of identities and national loyalties. When the state is diluted or weakened as a political community, other types of community appear as forms of social organization and cohesion.
