"Explains what international relations and commerce will look like in the world of the next century. Rosecrance defines how this world will emerge, how the United States will figure in this new system of international politics and economics and who are the likely winners and losers on the coming international scene". -- Jacket.

Part 1. The theory. A new kind of nation -- The shift from stocks to flows -- How states become virtual -- The conflict-as-usual thesis -- Part 2. Political and international implications. Domestic implications : the market and the state -- Governance and the world economy -- Part 3. States in the virtual age. The virtual states : Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan -- Japan -- The United States -- Europe and Russia -- China and emerging nations -- Part 4. The new system of international politics and economics -- The increasing intangibility of value in the world economy -- The state and the world -- Appendix. International theory : a new paradigm?