But people need more from a state than practical services. They need inspiration and some sort of spiritual uplift. That is why the forms and trappings of the nation-state will be with us for a long time, although perhaps only as a kind of ceremonial show business. And that is also why religion will probably be a growing force in the future nation-state, as people no longer erect altars to the fatherland. Theoretically, it could.
Modern communications make several alternative orders conceivable.
Countless small areas could be linked together on the Internet or something like it in a virtual community that would resemble the Holy Roman Empire with computers. Or else one can imagine a world government and a wired global electorate complete with a universal language or computers that instantly translate one language into another. Whether this will actually happen is beyond reasonable prediction. It might require a drastic change in the stubborn individuality and the need for community in human nature. But that is probably what would have been said in the Middle Ages if someone had suggested the disappearance of those princes and vassals, castles and walled towns.