Globalization and the end of the nation state?

Nation states have never been completely autonomous. There have always been exterior forces (regional, continental and even global—think of the world religions, for instance) which permeated through their borders. With important exceptions to the rule, militarily and politically nation states usually were highly resistant; their economic borders were, in most of the cases, more permeable; they could protect themselves at least in the field of cultural influences. The process of gloablization may take various directions and these various scenarios would affect the autonomy of the nation state in different ways. The paper surveys some of these scenarios and discusses in some detail the possible impact of an emerging new global civilization on the future of the nation state.