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Political conflict erupted after the fall of the Soviet Union instead of the convergent world that was anticipated. Responding in part to protests and ethnic strife after the Cold War, authors predicted breakdowns in prevailing power arrangements--particularly the nation-state. Prognostications of postnational outcomes included: "Civilizational" rifts, racialized strife, reversion to empire, and international relations shaped principally by the global economy. This research seeks public reconceptions of sociopolitical organization at the macro level. Many political scientists say that the institution of the nation-state was constructed and rose to dominance after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Benedict Anderson (1983/2006, pp. 6-7) explains how a series of crises in the 17th century led to the reimagining of social structure. He says that media artifacts such as maps, museums and censuses crystallized the idea of the nation-state, which is a contradictory and artificial concept. The crises of the late 20th century and early 21 st may be catalyzing another shift in how people imagine large communities. Globalization theory has arisen to explain impacts of accelerating communication and transnational flows of capital, resources, people and culture. Specifically, Martin Albrow's (1996) thesis of globality posits increasing conceptualization of society relative to the whole planet, along with disillusionment regarding modernity, and its promise of continuing improvement of the human condition. Over 500 editorial texts in the Times of India, the New York Times, and the Daily Gleaner of Jamaica from 1946 through 2008 were interpreted using critical discourse analysis (CDA). Decades before scholars posited decline of nation-state functions, contributors to the newspapers voiced criticism of the nation-state and declining fulfillment of seven expected nation-state properties: (a), reduced nation-state sovereignty, (b), increasing permeability of boundaries, (c) contestation of attribution at the national level, (d) declining protection of and provision for citizens, (e) degradation of law, order and adherence to international conventions, (f) failure of the nation-state to attain unity or inclusiveness in political dialogue. Particularly in later editorial texts, writers communicate perception of (g) the seventh nation-state property, modernity as the use of rationality to settle disputes and of contemporary technologies and globalization to enrich and protect citizens. Writers condemn as antimodern sectarian extremism and attacks on civilians but do not see the nation-state as declining in its modernity. They recommend revamping conception of the expected nation-state properties rather than describing a different emergent macro social structure. Keywords: globalization, globality, epoch, nation-state, nationalism, international state system, sovereignty, territory, deterritorialization, nonstate, substate, metanation, virtual nation, imagined communities, Benedict Anderson, Martin Albrow, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Fatah.
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