Globalisation, Europeanisation and metagovernance: society, space and technology

The sovereign national state is in many respects a recent phenomenon. The settlements following both world wars in the twentieth century created and defined our current understanding of the nation. They also qualified the concept by creating supra-national levels of accountability for both governments and individuals. With advancing globalisation, both the freedom of action and the legitimacy of national states are under pressure from the supra-national regulators of the world economy, such as the WTO. Traditional means of protecting and developing sub-national regions and national interests though government support and intervention are no longer legitimate. Against decline in participation in local and national elections, individuals and regions can appeal directly to supra-national entities