The Network State: How to Start a New Country
Author: Balaji Srinivasan (2022) Published: Online (free) and in print
The book that catalyzed the Network Nations project — both as inspiration and as critical foil. Srinivasan proposes a framework for building “network states”: highly aligned online communities that crowdfund territory and eventually seek diplomatic recognition from pre-existing states. The book drew enormous attention in the Web3 and tech-libertarian communities, becoming a major reference point for anyone thinking about new forms of political community.
De Filippi and Beer describe the book’s publication as a “strong catalyst” for Network Nations — they resonated with the diagnosis (networked communities are emerging with nation-like characteristics) but not the prescription (replicate territorial sovereignty through corporate/startup logic). This divergence — commons-based bottom-up civic sovereignty vs. startup-society territorial enclosure — is the central contrast the Network Nations project is built around.
The term “Coordi-nation” (an early formulation of Network Nations) emerged at Zuzalu in Montenegro as an explicit alternative to the Network State concept.
Referenced in: Network Nations essay, Ep 1, Ep 2