The term ‘post-national formations’ is a product of some of the recent work of Jürgen Habermas. In using this term, Habermas highlights what he regards as a laudatory trend in social and political research. This is the trend away from an intense focus on the role of nation-states – a role he believes to be unconducive to progressive politics – and towards a focus on the role of new configurations – a role he believes to be much more conducive to this type of politics. ‘Post-national formations’, then, is the term Habermas uses to describe new non-state configurations he has identified. He is confident these configurations will eventually break free of the supposed yoke of the nation-state and usher in a new era of progressivism. This article is not concerned with the post-national formations literature per se. Rather, it is concerned with this literature’s failure to take into account the full history of both the nation-state and the notion of sovereignty that helps the nation-state to function. In pursuing this concern, the article draws material from various sources to offer a short historical defence of the sovereign state.

“后民族编队”一词是约根·哈贝马斯（JürgenHabermas）最近的一些作品的产物。哈贝马斯（Habermas）在使用该术语时强调了他认为是社会和政治研究中的一种值得赞扬的趋势。这是一种趋势，不再集中于民族国家的作用（他认为这不利于进步政治），而是转向关注新格局的作用（他认为这将更有利于此）。政治类型。因此，“后国家编队”是哈贝马斯用来形容他已经确定的新的非国家​​结构的术语。他相信这些配置最终将摆脱民族国家的supposed锁，并迎来进步主义的新时代。本文与后国家编队文学本身无关。相当，它与该文献未能考虑到民族国家的完整历史和有助于民族国家运作的主权概念有关。在寻求这种关注时，该文章从各种来源中汲取了资料，为主权国家提供了简短的历史辩护。