The Modern Form Of State:A Study Of Eric Hobsbawm’s Thought Of Nation-state

The nation-state is a great product of human society.Once it appears,it shows the great advantages that the country never had before.With the development of the nation-state,its structural contradictions are constantly emerging,and the failure of the nation-state seems to be recognized by more and more people.Globalization poses another challenge to the nation-state,which makes the nation-state feel worse.In this case,where the nation-state will go is not only an important theoretical issue,but also an important practical issue.Therefore,this paper focuses on hobsbawm’s thought of nation-state,and tries to accurately grasp and objectively and comprehensively analyze and evaluate his thought of nation-state,and dig deep into its important value and significance.Hobsbawm’s thought of nation-state absorbed the reasonable contents of the existing theories and applied scientific methods to study and understand the nation-state.According to hobsbawm,the nation-state is a unified political entity born out of the feudal state,enjoying a unified political power,complete territory,independent sovereignty and representing all the people.Hobsbawm regards the nation-state as a modern country,and thinks that the essence of the nation-state is the European capitalist country.In hobsbawm’s view,as a modern state form,the nation-state experienced a development process from prosperity to decline.The nation-state first appeared in Europe in the "revolutionary era".After 1848,the nation-state established its dominant position in the world,and after the 20 th century,the nation-state showed a declining trend.Under the impact of internal and external troubles,the nation-state will be replaced by a supranational political unit in the future.In our opinion,his thoughts help us to reflect: under the background of globalization,the nation-state may not eventually die out as hobsbawm thought,and the nation-state still occupies a dominant side in this process;In addition,the modernization model of western capitalist countries has been proved by practice to be not the only way to realize national modernization in today’s world,and it is also necessary to think deeply about the choice of modernization road for backward countries.We should take an objective view of the progress and limitations of hobsbawm’s thought of nation-state.We should not only see the important value and practical significance of his thought,but also admit its shortcomings.