What Is The Introduction Of Nature And Function Of The Sovereign Nation State System?

The nation-state is a dominant feature of the international relations and is one of the major actors on the international scene. The people all over the world are divided into number of groups which live in sovereign states. These states maintain relations with each other out of sheer necessity. It has been argued that if men were not organized into nations and willing to obey their government's commands no international relations would have been possible. Some scholars have contended that the nation-state system is fast disappearing and is becoming increasingly inadequate in the present context on account of the growing interdependence of the people and the imperatives of the nuclear and space age. John Herz says that the technological revolution of post-war era has rendered the traditional stales obsolete because the state is no longer capable of safeguarding its citizens in the event of breakout of a war which involves nuclear, psychological and economic weapons.

He holds that soon the present international system would be replaced by a system dominated by conflicting regional alliances. Similarly, Robert Strausz Hupe etc. say that "the passing of nation-state system constitutes the true revolution of our times." However, this view is not universally shared and has been refuted by a number of scholars.

According to Max Lerner "It is not the nation-state that is dying, but its untrammeled sovereignty and the historic pattern of relations between nation states." Palmer and Perkins also assert that the stale-system "may be in its sunset period, but there seems to have been little change in its basic design, which is the co-existence of a large number of stales, including some pre-eminent military powers, all subject to the drive of their special interests and emotions.