The Crisis of the Nation-State: Choosing Between the Corporate State and the Civilizational State

The article examines the concept of the civilizational state as an alternative model of political organization that emerged in the early 21st century in opposition to the nation-state paradigm. The analysis addresses two arguments advanced by Western theorists against this concept: one historical, the other methodological. The first argument, based on a progressivist logic of evolution, construes the civilizational state as a regression, a return to the pre-modern, a “descent into the archaic.” This assertion ignores the fact that every civilization contains a core set of values that acts as a foundational myth, an archetype, a “pure paradigm,” an “ideal telos,” which unfold across time and space, constantly renewing itself and providing appropriate responses to the new challenges of modernity. The second objection appeals to the restrictive Western positivist understanding of the state as a “machine of governance.” Based on this, it is concluded that the “mechanistic” function inherent to the state is incompatible with the “organismic” basis of the concept of civilization. This argument fails to account for non-Western philosophy, in which the state is conceived from an ethical perspective that has been largely lost in contemporary European thought. In non-Western political thought, the state is held responsible for realizing the common good and for safeguarding peace and harmony, and is ultimately perceived as a locus of “virtue.” The article analyzes the developmental trends of the nation-state model and identifies the factors contributing to the crisis of this model. The emergence of the civilizational-state model (notably in China, Russia, India) serves not only as a form of self-defense for these countries but also as a necessary counterbalance to the concentration of global power. These states are becoming centers of attraction for culturally and historically similar regions, forming new “civilizational worlds.” The article concludes that the dichotomy between the corporate state and the civilizational state represents a fundamental choice: between the unification of the world under a single template and the establishment of a genuinely multipolar world order founded on respect for humanity’s civilizational diversity.

1. Aristotle. (1983) Politics (S.A. Zhebelev, Trans.). In: Aristotle. Works in 4 Vols. (Vol. 4, pp. 376–644). Moscow: Mysl’ (Russian translation).

2. Braudel F. (2014) A History of Civilizations. Moscow: Ves’ mir (Russian translation).

3. Buzan B. (2014) The ‘Standard of Civilisation’ as an English School Concept. Millennium Journal of International Studies. Vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 576–594.

4. Carrère d’Encausse H. (2005) The Unfinished Russia (M.B. Ivanova, Trans.). Moscow: ROSSPEN (Russian translation).

5. Cho K. (2009, October 21) The Middle Kingdom: Civilisation state or nation state? Knowledge. Economics & Finance. Retrieved from https://knowledge.insead.edu/economics-finance/middle-kingdom-civilisation-state-or-nation-state.

6. Coker C. (2019) The Rise of the Civilisational State. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

7. Cooper R. (2010) The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century (M. Dadyan, Trans.). Moscow: MSPS (Russian translation).

8. Crooke A. (2020, August 31) The Dissolution of Liberal Universalism. Strategic Culture. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20200912055349/https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/08/31/the-dissolution-of-liberal-universalism/.

9. Fidler D. (2010) Introduction: Eastphalia Emerging? Asia, International Law, and Global Governance. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies. Vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1–12.

10. Fogel J.A. (2009) Articulating the Sinosphere. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

11. Ginsburg T. (2009) Eastphalia as a Return to Westphalia. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies. Vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1–24.

12. Habermas J. (1995) Citizenship and National Identity. In: Habermas J. Democracy. Reason. Morality: Moscow Lectures and Interviews (pp. 209–245). Moscow: Kami; Academia (in Russian).

13. Hayek F.A. von (1990) The Political Order of a Free People (A. Kustarev, Trans.; Yu. Kolker, Ed.). London: Overseas Publications Interchange Ltd. (Russian translation).

14. Jacques М. (2009) When China Rules the World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World. London: Penguin Books.

15. Kumar R. (1993) L’Inde: État-nation ou État-civilisation? Hérodote: stratégies, géographies, idéologies. No. 10, pp. 43–60 (in French).

16. Legendre P. (1999) Sur la question dogmatique en Occident. Aspects théoriques. Paris: Fayard (in French).

17. Linklater A. (2016) The ‘Standard of Civilisation’ in World Politics. Human Figuration. Vol 5, no. 2.

18. Losev A.F. (1990) The Dialectic of Myth. In: Losev A.F. From Early Works (pp. 393–599). Moscow: Pravda (in Russian).

19. Maçães B. (2020, June 15) The Attack of the Civilization-State. Noema Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.noemamag.com/the-attack-of-the-civilization-state/.

20. Mamut L.S. (1996) The State: Poles of Representation. Obshchestvennye nauki i sovremennost’. No. 4, pp. 45–54 (in Russian).

21. Mennell St. & Poncharal B. (2010) L’histoire, le caractère national et la civilisation américaine. Vingtième Siècle. Revue d’histoire. No. 106, pp. 143–159 (in French).

22. Musso P. (2007) Pour une critique du « capitalisme informationnel ». Nouvelles Fondations. No. 2, pp. 110–122 (in French).

23. Parshin P.B. (2009) State and Civilization in Modern International Relations. Moscow: MGIMO – Universitet (in Russian).

24. Prabhu J.A. (2014, December 8) Why the Idea of India as a ‘Civilisational’ State Will Simply Not Fly. Firstpost. Retrieved from https://www.firstpost.com/india/idea-india-civilisational-state-will-simply-fly-1839641.html.

25. Spierenburg P. (2006) Democracy Came Too Early: A Tentative Explanation for the Problem of American Homicide. American Historical Review. Vol. 111, no. 1, pp. 104–114.

26. Therborn G. (2015) The World: A Beginner’s Guide (E.M. Gorbunova & L.G. Titarenko, Trans.; S.M. Gavrilenko, Ed.). Moscow: HSE Publishing House (Russian translation).

27. Therborn G. (2020) Cities of Power: The Urban, the National, the Popular, the Global (A. Korolev, Trans.; V. Danilov, Ed.). Moscow: HSE Publishing House (Russian translation).

28. Therborn G. (2021) States, Nations, and Civilizations. Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Vol. 14, pp. 225–242.

29. Wimmer A. & Feinstein Y. (2010) The Rise of the Nation-State across the World, 1816 to 2001. American Sociological Review. Vol. 75, no. 5, pp. 764–790.

30. Wolff R.P. (1996) About Philosophy (V.A. Lektorsky & T.A. Alekseeva, Eds.). Moscow: Aspekt Press (Russian translation).

31. Zhang W. (2012) The China Wave: The Rise of a Civilizational State. Singapore: World Century Publishing Corporation.