Equity · Friday, August 7, 2026
Jill Lepore defines the 'artificial state' as a construct and idea that is gradually replacing the liberal democratic nation-state. She argues that private corporations have increasingly taken on state functions, often with well-intentioned goals of efficiency, but more recently as a deliberate usurpation of the nation-state's role.
“And I also trace the notion that the this is an inevitable failure, that the artificial state cannot survive. And I trace that idea through science fiction.”
“And then I think only in the last 20, 25 years or so have these decisions been, I think, been purposeful and deliberate as a kind of usurpation of the role of the nation state.”