What is the relationship between nations and conflict? Is globalization really eroding national sovereignty and cultural unity? This novel and compelling book explores such questions, arguing that it is wrong to assume that nations are culturally uniform. Hutchinson asserts that resting on older diverse ethnic identities, nations adapt from the unpredictable challenges of modernity, and such plurality makes them prone to cultural wars. Hutchinson redefines nation-state formation as an outcome of unending and reversible processes, stating that even when nationalists win control, the nation state is never hegemonic since it is only one of many actors in the modern world.