Symptoms of decline are: (1) the functions of the EEC, other regional groupings of nations and the UN are rapidly expanding; (2) general agreement that global action is the only way to deal with problems such as environmental pollution, drug trafficking, human rights abuses and terrorism; (3) disputes in virtually every world trouble spot can be traced, in part, to defects in the nature of various nation-states; (4) the world's major national economies are inextricably linked; (5) member nations of NATO have surrendered substantial powers in the area of sovereign defence; (6) movements for self-determination, autonomy and reunification across borders, together with ethnic, religious and political conflicts, represent attempts to resolve deep-rooted identity questions produced by the century-long dominance of nation-states; (7) the practical reality of "nation-state" is actually very rare: some legal "states" are actually multinational states or federations (USA, Canada, Switzerland, Sri Lanka etc.) and some "nations" have no state (Armenians, Crees, Kurds, Palestinians etc).