wretchard,

The role of nations will be redefined away from the classic European idea of providers of services to one of governance. In other words, the nonstate actors will be the engines of the 21st century. The role of states will shrink back to delivering defense and key public goods.

This is a profoundly undemocratic view of the future. The one thing governments can do, even if it is often honored in the breach, is reflect popular sovereignty and democratic consensus. No other human agency can do that. They all reflect other interests or means of establishing their constituencies. These could be religious as with the Moslem Brotherhood or the Maryknolls or Mormon charities, or racial as with La Raza, or ideological as with Greenpeace or simply financial.

If in the future the provision of essential goods and services will be provided by NGOs and corporations then the most sought after title may no longer be Citizen but Stockholder.