The Rise of the Virtual State
![handle is hein.journals/fora75 and id is 601 raw text is: The Rise of the
Virtual State
Richard Rosecrance
TERRITORY BECOMES PASSE
AMID THE supposed clamor of contending cultures and civiliza-
tions, a new reality is emerging. The nation-state is becoming a
tighter, more vigorous unit capable of sustaining the pressures of
worldwide competition. Developed states are putting aside military,
political, and territorial ambitions as they struggle not for cultural
dominance but for a greater share of world output. Countries are
not uniting as civilizations and girding for conflict with one another.
Instead, they are downsizing--in function if not in geographic
form. Today and for the foreseeable future, the only international
civilization worthy of the name is the governing economic culture
of the world market. Despite the view of some contemporary ob-
servers, the forces of globalization have successfully resisted partition
into cultural camps.
Yet the world's attention continues to be mistakenly focused on
military and political struggles for territory. In beleaguered Bosnia,
Serbian leaders sought to create an independent province with an al-
legiance to Belgrade. A few years ago Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
aimed to corner the world oil market through military aggression
against Kuwait and, in all probability, Saudi Arabia; oil, a product of
land, represented the supreme embodiment of his ambitions. In
Kashmir, India and Pakistan are vying for territorial dominance over
RICHARD ROSECRANCE is Professor of Political Science and Director
of the Center for International Relations at the University of California,
Los Angeles.
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The Rise of the Virtual State
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