If you are a citizen who has found yourself in a state that has no borders, no distinct nationality or designated language, have no fear – you are living in the age of post-international relations.

This was the sobering assessment of the modern state, and the status of modern international relations, Monday night in Linden Hall as Richard Mansbach, professor of political science, gave a lightly attended talk in Linden Hall for United Nations and World Affairs Week.

“The world of international relations and the world you watched on the telly is disappearing,” he said.

Mansbach focused on the root of international problems that exist today. International problems such as terrorism can be explained as symptoms of the age of post-international relations, he said, which could be simply defined as a state or group of people without borders. These people are on the vanguard of a new way of life, he said.

“What I see happening is the world of exclusive, sovereign tiny states is eroding,” he said. “What I call ‘post-international relations’ suggests that cultures are far more important than in the past.”

Mansbach said the age of neatly organized states, with distinctly drawn borders on a map and citizens who define themselves strictly in terms of nationality alone, is gone, as groups of people who now only identify themselves by their religion, tribe or subtribe are taking hold in the world today.

Iraq, or the “ultimate failed state,” as Mansbach said, is a prime example of this – Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites do not identify themselves as citizens of Iraq, but as parts of tribes or families.

“What the polls seems to suggest, is they say they are Muslims first, citizens second,” he said.

Groups that also exist only on business terms, or “global citizens,” as Mansbach called them, who hold no ties to any country or even language and are “a part of the million-mile frequent flyers’ club,” are a part of this new system, and pose a different kind of threat to the perpetuation of the nation-state. Groups that exist only on the Internet are prime examples of post-international relations, Mansbach said, as Internet hackers are just one new type of group that could air their grievances by hacking into major banking records or major retailers and ravaging the world economy, he said.

Global economic collapse was another symptom of the post-international relations world, as the subprime mortgage loan crisis is creating weak economies all over the world, he said. If currency gets dumped, then a global economic recession could take place, he said.

“[It could] spread like a global disease,” Mansbach said.