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After Nations: The Making and Unmaking of a World Order
Not yet published
Expected 28 Apr 26From a prizewinning writer, a sweeping global history of the birth of nation-states and the consequences of their failure, for readers of Thomas Piketty and Timothy Snyder
The system of nation-states is in convulsion. As American hegemony unwinds, anxious Western countries slide into xenophobia and debt. Liberal ideas and institutions are losing their prestige; autocracies like China, Russia, and the UAE, by contrast, are rising. For those most completely abandoned by nation-states, meanwhile, there is no future except through life-threatening migration. All in all, the global political order offers human beings ever fewer securities—and ever more threats.
Rana Dasgupta traces the formation and rise of this system in order to explain the cause of its multiple failures today. He takes us from the fall of ancient empires and the expansion of European concepts of money and law, right up to the emergence of twenty-first-century tech firms—which present formidable competition to nation-states—and the epochal restoration of Chinese power. He posits that the time has come to develop a new conception of citizenship, law, and economy—one that corresponds to our own globalized and ecologically fragile condition.
An urgent work of astute political and historical analysis, After Nations is an essential text for anyone looking to understand why we seem to be losing our political hold on the world, and how we might try to restore it.
The system of nation-states is in convulsion. As American hegemony unwinds, anxious Western countries slide into xenophobia and debt. Liberal ideas and institutions are losing their prestige; autocracies like China, Russia, and the UAE, by contrast, are rising. For those most completely abandoned by nation-states, meanwhile, there is no future except through life-threatening migration. All in all, the global political order offers human beings ever fewer securities—and ever more threats.
Rana Dasgupta traces the formation and rise of this system in order to explain the cause of its multiple failures today. He takes us from the fall of ancient empires and the expansion of European concepts of money and law, right up to the emergence of twenty-first-century tech firms—which present formidable competition to nation-states—and the epochal restoration of Chinese power. He posits that the time has come to develop a new conception of citizenship, law, and economy—one that corresponds to our own globalized and ecologically fragile condition.
An urgent work of astute political and historical analysis, After Nations is an essential text for anyone looking to understand why we seem to be losing our political hold on the world, and how we might try to restore it.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication April 28, 2026
About the author
Rana Dasgupta
14 books161 followersRana Dasgupta is a British-Indian writer. He grew up in Cambridge, England and studied at Balliol College, Oxford, the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud in Aix-en-Provence, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He lives in Delhi, India.
His first novel, Tokyo Cancelled (2005), was an examination of the forces and experiences of globalization. Billed as a modern-day Canterbury Tales, thirteen passengers stuck overnight in an airport tell thirteen stories from different cities in the world, stories that resemble contemporary fairytales, mythic and surreal. The tales add up to a broad exploration of 21st century forms of life, which includes billionaires, film stars, migrant labourers, illegal immigrants and sailors. [1] Tokyo Cancelled was shortlisted for the 2005 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.
Dasgupta's second novel, Solo (2009) is an epic tale of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries told from the perspective of a one hundred-year old Bulgarian man. Having achieved little in his twentieth-century life, he settles into a long and prophetic daydream of the twenty-first century, where all the ideological experiments of the old century are over, and a collection of startling characters - demons and angels - live a life beyond utopia.
His first novel, Tokyo Cancelled (2005), was an examination of the forces and experiences of globalization. Billed as a modern-day Canterbury Tales, thirteen passengers stuck overnight in an airport tell thirteen stories from different cities in the world, stories that resemble contemporary fairytales, mythic and surreal. The tales add up to a broad exploration of 21st century forms of life, which includes billionaires, film stars, migrant labourers, illegal immigrants and sailors. [1] Tokyo Cancelled was shortlisted for the 2005 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.
Dasgupta's second novel, Solo (2009) is an epic tale of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries told from the perspective of a one hundred-year old Bulgarian man. Having achieved little in his twentieth-century life, he settles into a long and prophetic daydream of the twenty-first century, where all the ideological experiments of the old century are over, and a collection of startling characters - demons and angels - live a life beyond utopia.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 16, 2026
In 2018 I was first introduced to Rana Dasgupta’s intriguing article featured in The Guardian : ‘The demise of the nation state’ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018...
The article had a post script mentioning that the author was soon to publish his book - After Nations - on the same topic. I’ve waited patiently since then - and just when I thought he forgot about it, the book was launched in January 2026. Of course I grabbed it (on my kindle) immediately.
Reading the book took me about a month - I would soak up a chapter and then reread it to let it percolate.
The book structure and flow reminded me of the saying “If I had an axe and needed to cut a tree in 5 hours, I’d sharpen the axe for 4 hours…”. Dasgupta takes 4/5 of the book to establish the making and unmaking of the world order, before he finally makes his main argument about what can come ‘After Nations’. And yet it is this very approach through the telescopic lens of religion, money, law and nature, that he builds the foundation one needs to appreciate his final denouement.
I feel Dasgupta can sustain the momentum of his book’s conclusion through a sequel, else through blogs, rather than prematurely stop at ‘After Nations’. I will look out for more.
p.s reading the multitudinous references to other works mentioned in ‘After Nations’ took me (pleasurably) down several rabbit holes, and I’ve found my next few reads already.
The article had a post script mentioning that the author was soon to publish his book - After Nations - on the same topic. I’ve waited patiently since then - and just when I thought he forgot about it, the book was launched in January 2026. Of course I grabbed it (on my kindle) immediately.
Reading the book took me about a month - I would soak up a chapter and then reread it to let it percolate.
The book structure and flow reminded me of the saying “If I had an axe and needed to cut a tree in 5 hours, I’d sharpen the axe for 4 hours…”. Dasgupta takes 4/5 of the book to establish the making and unmaking of the world order, before he finally makes his main argument about what can come ‘After Nations’. And yet it is this very approach through the telescopic lens of religion, money, law and nature, that he builds the foundation one needs to appreciate his final denouement.
I feel Dasgupta can sustain the momentum of his book’s conclusion through a sequel, else through blogs, rather than prematurely stop at ‘After Nations’. I will look out for more.
p.s reading the multitudinous references to other works mentioned in ‘After Nations’ took me (pleasurably) down several rabbit holes, and I’ve found my next few reads already.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews