by Sohail Inayatullah
Introduction
In a recent essay, Philip Bobbit caimed that just as the 20th century began with World War I the shooting of Prince Ferdinand in Sarajevo, the 21st century has begun with the cruel events of September 11.While there have many recent challenges to the nation state – the evolution of human rights, the emergence of transnational corporations, environmental problems that can only be solved through global agencies and action, to mention a few – it is the rise of the virtual nation that represents perhaps the biggest challenge. Al-Qaeda (not to mention global multinational corporatiosn) is the first, but there will be many more.(continue…)