Globalisation, postnationalism and Australia

Abstract

Postnational institutions and identities are products of globalisation. How far along the ‘postnational’ road the world has travelled is debatable. In the early 2000s Habermas referred to an emerging ‘post national constellation’. While the nation-state is still an important institutional form, postnational identities and experiences challenge the boundaries of nation-states, and also national identities. Cosmopolitanism as an outlook, set of predispositions and practices is often seen as postnational, and celebrated as such, since it implies the embrace of humanity beyond nation. To what extent have national identities (as opposed to other kinds of identities) been threatened, undermined or superseded by postnational identities? To what extent is the postnational a utopian hope for a cosmopolitan future, and to what extent is the postnational already upon us – whether we recognise it or not? What are the most convincing examples of postnationalism? This article addresses such questions, with a focus on Australia.