Is it true that the forces of technology and interdependence have undermined the sovereignty of modern states? This book argues powerfully that the opposite is true: that over the past quarter century the major industrial states - the US, Britain, France, Germany and Japan - have mostly used these forces, often in novel ways, to pursue national purposes. The nation-state framework has, over that period, remained the basis of legitimate political authority and law. There has been a huge increase in the scope, incidence and detail of state regulation to manage, among other things, both the...

In this book, Harry Gelber examines centuries of colonial interaction and argues for a close link between revolution in 18th century Europe and the development of Asian nationalism from the 19th Century onwards. The author reviews how adoption of European industrial and financial practices encouraged an adoption of European ideologies in general. Asia became attracted by liberal principles particularly that of national self-determination and decolonization. The effect was to change the future balance of international power.