A Shakeup Is Coming for the Nation-State: A Conversation with Stephen Sims

About this episode

Stephen Sims discusses how emerging technologies are reshaping the authority and structure of the modern nation-state.

Stephen Sims’ New Atlantis essay examines how emerging technologies are reshaping the structure and authority of the modern nation-state. He argues that innovations such as artificial intelligence, drones, and networked warfare are weakening the traditional link between territorial control and the projection of power, enabling smaller actors to operate with unprecedented reach. At the same time, advanced states are enhancing their internal capabilities through data-driven governance and automation, increasing their ability to monitor and manage populations. This dynamic creates a paradox in which states grow more powerful domestically while becoming more vulnerable externally. Sims contends that sovereignty is fragmenting, with authority dispersing both to non-state actors and to transnational technological systems. The result is not the end of the nation-state, but its evolution into a more contested, uneven, and technologically mediated form. Stephen Sims is associate professor of political science at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Greg is the Executive Director and Founder of the World War II Discussion Forum (wwiidf.org). He also has a strong interest in literature…

People in this episode

Host: Greg

Guest: Stephen Sims

Topics covered

• nation-state
• emerging technologies
• sovereignty
• data-driven governance
• networked warfare
• political science

Keywords

• nation-state
• emerging technologies
• sovereignty
• artificial intelligence
• drones
• networked warfare
• data-driven governance

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Rochester Institute of Technology, World War II Discussion Forum

Books & works: New Atlantis

More episodes of New Books in Public Policy

• AI, Algocracy, and Democracy's Challenging Road Ahead with Andrew Sorota · June 12, 2026
• Can I Say That: Your Go-To Guide for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion · June 11, 2026 · 39 min
• Ladan Rahbari and Olga Burlyuk eds., "From the Margins: Migrant Academics’ Narratives of Precarity" (Open Book Publishers, 2026) · June 8, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Kristian Williams, "Policing the Progressive City: Portland, Oregon, from Settlement to Uprising" (AK Press, 2026) · June 7, 2026 · 1h 5m
• Michael Brownstein et al., "Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change" (MIT Press, 2025) · June 6, 2026 · 1h 11m
• Max Krahé and Sara Schulte, "Housing Policy At An Expensive Dead End" (Dezernat Zukunft, 2026) · June 3, 2026 · 56 min