Trend Story 6: network states, digital nations and global citizenship contest statehood

Summary

The sixth story of change in the report holds that notions of statehood and citizenship are evolving as technology creates new spaces for people with shared interests and values to connect. Technology lets people organise with like-minded others both within and across national borders. As a result, ideas such as network states, digital nations, digital nomads and global citizenship are emerging and challenging traditional concepts. Network states are values-based online communities that crowdfund the purchase of territory and hope an existing state will recognise them. Digital nations are proposed to protect citizens of countries that may disappear through climate change, while digital nomad visas loosen the tie between citizen and state. Immersive online spaces are also becoming places to learn about and deliberate on transnational priorities.