NEW YORK — This fall, thousands of college students will be taught a myth presented as fact. It is a myth that has helped fuel wars and may hinder finding solutions to the world's biggest problems. Though the origin of this myth is cloudy, science has proven its falsity, and a globalized world has rendered it anachronistic. I am talking about the nation-state.
The nation-state myth conflates two ideas; one that is concrete, the state, and one that is fuzzy, the nation. The utility of the state is clear. It is a necessary organizing principle that lets people pool their resources for the common good and mobilize against common threats. The state is also the final arbiter of law. State power is on the rise, partly as a backlash to globalization and as a result of growing wealth from energy markets.
But the nation-state as a basis for statecraft obscures the nature of humanity's greatest threats: pollution, terrorism, pandemics and climate change. These do not respect national sovereignty and, therefore, they necessitate global cooperation.