In Focus by The Hindu What a ‘post-nation’ future might look like? with Rana Dasgupta
Feb 14, 2026
Rana Dasgupta, novelist and essayist who studies global politics, discusses the fragility of the nation-state and why it feels recent. He explores how states became secular authorities, the rise of nationalism amid systemic failure, tech-driven post-nation ideas, and whether new nonterritorial communities or multipolar orders could address climate and social crises.
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State As A New Sacred Authority
- Rana Dasgupta argues the modern state became a new God, inheriting the authority and totalizing power once held by religion.
- The state claims life-and-death authority and demanded belief similar to a divine object during the modern period.
Enlightenment As A Secular Theology
- Dasgupta reframes Enlightenment liberalism as a new theology placing human reason at the cosmos' center rather than ending religion.
- Faith in managerial rationality is now eroding as material progress stalls for large populations.
Nationalism Rises As States Falter
- Nationalism surges while nation-states fail because people seek spiritual or symbolic remedies to systemic abandonment.
- Populist nationalism is a hysterical response that doesn't address global structural shifts making states less able to deliver.
