I live in a country with a similarly small population and much smaller land-area.
Just because nation-states aren't the forefront of the most interesting stuff going on in the world today doesn't mean they don't perform a necessary function. The psychological problem with a functioning, well-done nation-state is that it fades into the background, and people just suddenly act surprised when they wake up one day after voting for neoliberals and find they've lost their rent subsidies, their child allowance, and half the coverage on their health insurance.
Just because nation-states aren't the forefront of the most interesting stuff going on in the world today doesn't mean they don't perform a necessary function. The psychological problem with a functioning, well-done nation-state is that it fades into the background, and people just suddenly act surprised when they wake up one day after voting for neoliberals and find they've lost their rent subsidies, their child allowance, and half the coverage on their health insurance.