The process of the evolution of the State is not yet complete. With the liquidation of the Colonial Empires, the former narrow ideas of nationalism are also breaking down and are now being replaced by the idea of internationalism.
Developments in the means of communication and transport, expansion of international trade and establishment of various international organisations have further given a stimulus to the movement for internationalism. One may even say that if our fathers thought nationally, we think internationally.
Suggestions have also been made for a world-State on the basis of a world federation. The late Professor Laski was a devoted champion of World Federation. He said that the nation-State was not the final unit of social organisation and that the pressure of world forces had already made the sovereignty of the State obsolete for any creative purpose.
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In his recent book, Union Now, C.A. Streit visualised a federal union of the various democratic nation-States. Like Laski, Streit, too, outlines the scheme and method of a world government of the federal type.
Federation may be the solution of the present world politics. It is a device which satisfies the claims of nationalities. As a form of government, it is likely to solve the problems of both nationalism and internationalism. But a World federal union is an impossible ideal unless the States change their political and economic attitudes and the tottering imperial powers voluntarily relinquish their imperial authority.
The Anarchists and the Communists, too, shall have to change their attitude towards the State, as both aim to establish a stateless society. The future of the State, under the circumstances, is difficult to predict and time alone will reveal the shape of things to come.