Imperilled nation states

The nation state is actually a fairly recent construct. Throughout history, our maps have always comprised of microstates, empires and city-states. For example India before independence was actually a confederation of 565 princely states and colonial territories.

However, the reign of nation states is under threat. As recently as the mid-19th century, the nation state was still an alien concept in many parts of the world. However, due to economic and security challenges, a consolidation rapidly occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries.