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After Nations
After Nations explores 'a generalised state of crisis' that afflicts the nation-state worldwide. In an effort to understand this crisis, Rana Dasgupta charts the development of the global nation state project from the Enlightenment to the present, its ongoing value unquestioned—to our detriment.
In its modern, fully-fledged form, the nation-state system is a very recent innovation, and one that departs from the normal history of the world – which is a story of empires. What we are seeing is the rapid disintegration of a system on which we had come to depend too completely.
After Nations offers a startling account of this exhilarating and terrible system. Its thesis will be disturbing to many, but we must quickly come to terms with it if we are to address the very grave challenges that now face us as a at their core, the political, economic, military and even environmental problems we face today are not the fault of inadequate policies or poor leadership. They are the consequence, rather, of our outdated political infrastructure – the nation-state system – which is not capable, even in theory, of protecting populations from twenty-first-century conditions. Five crises (“God”, “Money”, “Law”, “War” and “Nature”) will combine inexorably to diminish the ability of this system to deliver minimally acceptable outcomes.
The author's aim, through a portrait of this time of crisis, is radically to re-imagine what the nation-state system can and should provide. His interrogation of what we might now ask of our neighbourhoods and cities, will here be writ After Nations asks what we want for our global future.
In its modern, fully-fledged form, the nation-state system is a very recent innovation, and one that departs from the normal history of the world – which is a story of empires. What we are seeing is the rapid disintegration of a system on which we had come to depend too completely.
After Nations offers a startling account of this exhilarating and terrible system. Its thesis will be disturbing to many, but we must quickly come to terms with it if we are to address the very grave challenges that now face us as a at their core, the political, economic, military and even environmental problems we face today are not the fault of inadequate policies or poor leadership. They are the consequence, rather, of our outdated political infrastructure – the nation-state system – which is not capable, even in theory, of protecting populations from twenty-first-century conditions. Five crises (“God”, “Money”, “Law”, “War” and “Nature”) will combine inexorably to diminish the ability of this system to deliver minimally acceptable outcomes.
The author's aim, through a portrait of this time of crisis, is radically to re-imagine what the nation-state system can and should provide. His interrogation of what we might now ask of our neighbourhoods and cities, will here be writ After Nations asks what we want for our global future.
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About the author
Rana Dasgupta
14 books163 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