The globalisation of economic activity and human life is the most potent force of the present era. This book examines the impact of this force on human political institutions and ideas. It develops the argument that globalization will erode the nation-state's importance and transform the array of political ideas which accompany it. Sovereignty, nationalism, democracy, and political freedom will all be reshaped by globalization and must therefore be reexamined if they are to remain pertinent to human life.

Many will rejoice in the decline of the nation-state for it has been a source of much human suffering in this century. However, its decline will bring important difficulties, among them a tyranny or powerlessness resulting from the lack of dominant political institutions, accentuated human alienation prompted by erosion of national ties and increased personal mobility, and a widening gulf between the world's prosperous and impoverished.