finethen wrote:

I think it is important to take (buzzword alert) "the decline of the nation-state" into account as well when looking at the rise of democracy abroad.

but is the nation-state in decline?
European integration has at best stalled and the US has completed moved away from a multilateral approach to global problems under this administration. These may be blips in the overall trend but I wonder if the "decline of the nation-state" is a 90s buzz meme.
The European experiment will I think recover but is arguably the construction of a new super-state not evidence that the nation-state is in decline.
I live in a country which is a rather old political union, the UK, and has thriving political parties in Scotland and Wales which actively campaign for political independance, indeed Scotland only very recently gained its own parliament. The pooling of sovereignty in Europe has too often been a top down exercise and has often been scuppered by grassroots campaigns. The Danes are the best example of a small state with a strong national and cultural identity that rejected proposed integration legislation when given a referendum. It was a grassroots campaign which opposed the political class/establishment and started a political shock wave which certain elements within the European political class have yet to accomodate. There is certainly no evidence that the UK is about to join the Single Currency or the Schengen agreement (the treaty which allows for freedom of movement between European countries without passport controls which in the present security climate won't be joined by the UK for the forseeable future).
Plus also yes I agree a lot of EU integration was driven by a free trade capitalist idealogy which isn't universally accepted. Some people (hello) believe that the state can and should ameliorate some of the excesses and inequalities of capitalism and defend individuals and groups against multinational corporations. Believe me the European left is alive and well. It is learning to accomodate the realities of the global economy (despite the recent counter example of the excesses the French left in resisting change violently). From a UK point of view the left needed to modernize or be permanently in opposition. Labour modernized and won power. It hasn't always steered a path of immaculate socialist virtue but despite my occasional problems with the current administration by and large I still hear the sound of old time religion, voices singing songs that have adapted to current realities.
The right may reject the state and believe in an unfettered market but the center left still believes in the nation-state and is pleased to see the EU take Microsoft to court with the threat of significant fines under European anti-Trust legislation.

RE: After Neoconservatism - New York Times