End of the Nation State : The Rise of Regional Economies

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Summary: Political discourse disguised as economic analysis
Review: After proclaiming in an earlier book that we are now living in a 'borderless world', Ohmae now writes about the 'end of the nation state'. Ohmae's work is very popular among geographers who like to use it as an antidote to their own research and perspectives. They claim that national borders still matter and, in general, that space has become more rather than less important. Ohmae has allegedly not understood this. So, I expected Ohmae to argue that the nation state didn't matter any more. But he did not do this. On the contrary, all his examples show that the nation state is still very important. Rather than proving that the nation state does not matter any more, Ohmae shows that people like him can be very frustrated by the actions of nation states. He basically argues that the nation state hinders the market and therefore should be dissolved. He tells us that we should give managers of multinationals all the space and freedom they need so we can benefit from the blessings of the market. Ohmae equates market forces with freedom and prosperity and associates the nation state with repression and corruption. Rather than an economic analysis, his book is a political agenda for right-wing politicians and the managers of TNC's. I think that most people who question the benevolence of the market, will be very irritated by the way Ohmae confuses his own personal interest and the interests of the economic/managerial elite in general with the public interest. I'm one of those people and I can't say that I gained a lot of knowledge from reading this work. Nevertheless, I have to say that Ohmae presents his arguments in a very challenging way. That makes the book interesting in at least one respect, and I guess that people who share his political view will therefore enjoy the book. I didn't enjoy it and I hope that other people will also read between the lines and see that business gurus like Ohmae represent the interests of a small minority (mainly share holders of TNC's) rather than the general interest.

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Summary: Ohmae does understand tomorrow's world.
Review: Ohmae has brilliantly managed to explain in a crystal clear way how the political and economic structures of mankind are starting to experience an impressive change. The book is very revealing in terms of how globalisation is already reshaping the way people interact, making national states unnecessary, costly and counterproducing, as they have just become obstacles in today's world. Ohmae has said in easy words what we all (in favour or against) knew or suspected but couldn't put so clearly: that what he calls "the world according to the United Nations", that colourful political map we all learnt in school, full of borders and flags representing different cultures, levels of income, geopolitical interests, etc., is simply over. With the end of national states comes a new and exciting era when individuals and their spontaneous order, their free associations and their voluntary alliances are important, not any longer the opinions, positions or decisions of government bureaucrats and politicians. With globalisation comes freedom to an extent we humans have no historic precedents for. This logically causes fear among all brands of right-wing or left-wing collectivists and, especially, among that chaste of elegant leaders living on our coerced tax-paying.

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Summary: The irrelevance of politicians
Review: The concept of nation state as it is today, is relatively new. Kenichi Ohmae's thesis is that it is already out of date.

Nation state has become an excuse for all manner of political ills and goals that are irrelevant to the majority of the public. Kenichi shows that when leaders ignore geopolitical boundaries and encourage cross border cooperations, the result is far more beneficial than the old nationalism.

However as nations become less relevant, organisations such as the European Union are to an extent taking their place. The Author argues that these are no more relevant, they are new nation states rit large. In their place, he argues for greater regional cooperation, transending boundaries, not building exclusive trading blocks, but maximising the potential of a city, region or country, through truly international division of labour.

The title can be misunderstood, by those who do not read the book, but the driving argument, is that in their current guise, nation states risk becoming irrelevant to the very people that they claim to serve. Left leaning social democrats, will disagree with his theory, as will old style conservatives. Those of you who wish to live in a more connected less divisive world, will find the book a breath of fresh air.

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Summary: You must read beyond the title
Review: The title suggests that nation states and government in general are things of the past, a world-scale right-wing libertarian vision come to life. That's not quite true. Now 5 years after this book was written, in so many ways, the world either already is what Ohmae said it will be, or it is well on its way. The "End" is not so much a dissolution of national governments, but their growing irrelevance. Fewer and fewer consumers still regard Honda and Toyota as Japanese car manufacturers because so much of their assembly and even machining is now performed in the USA. If Motorola sells portable phones to Japan it does not necessarily benefit Americans, because the phones might be manufactured in Indonesia. The shareholders and other departments of the company might benefit because of new business generated, but it is possible that all employees and shareholders come from Asia or Europe themselves, even if Motorola was originally established in the US.

The nation state might last through the end of this lifetime (though unlikely longer than that), but it is less and less an economic entity, rather a final vestige of nationalistic sentiments, the modern and future "opium of the masses." Ohmae reminds us that terms like GDP and GNP are outdated and deserve reconsideration, considering that every large nation state has successful enterprises spaced out among uncompetitive industries and unproductive locales. Gross "Regional" Product might be a more accurate yardstick.

A good companion book to this one might be "Jihad vs. McWorld" by Benjamin Barber. That book emphasises that the so-called Transnational Corporations might as well be called anti-national corporations. Consumers scarcely know or care where the banks and manufacturers who provide them with goods and services call home, and the corporations care even less about the nationality of their customers, beyond the point that it might provide information about their purchasing habits.