Boundaries, Territory and Postmodernity

As the world undergoes rapid technological and economic change, so too the role and functions of the State are being challenged.

There are those who argue that that the nation state has come to an end and that we are entering a new phase in the territorial ordering of the world system.

Others hold that boundaries have disappeared and that a globalized world has no need or use for artificial, man-made, territorial barriers.

The contributions here seek to determine the extent to which states and boundaries have, in fact, disappeared, or are simply changing their functions as we move from an era of fixed territories into a post-Westphalian territorial system.

A group of international political geographers and political scientists examine the changing nature of the state, pointing to significant changes on the one hand, but equally noting the continued importance of territory and boundaries in determining the political ordering of the post-modern world.