Globalization Of Capital And The Nation State

The Nation-State in Tranformation discusses the significance of the state in a globalised economy. Focusing on Denmark and Ireland, the book analyses how small states adapt to the international market and argues that the institutional mediation of globalisation helps us explain why some states seem to possess more capacity to adjust than others. Not only must we bring the state back in,' we must also consider how history, culture and collective identities influence the performance of the nation-state in the new globalised world order. With contributions by Francis Fukuyama, Bob Jessop, David Marsh, John A Hall and John Campbell, Georg Sorensen, Bjorn Hvinden, Rory ODonnell, Peadar Kirby, Joseph Ruane, Brian Girvin, Sean ORiain, Chris McInerny, Gert and Gunnar Svendsen, Lars Bo Kaspersen and Linda Thorsager, Henrik Bang, and Michael Boss.

As transnational capital has become a mighty force controlling the economies of advanced and less-developed capitalist countries around the world, capitalism and capitalist relations of production have spread to and dominated societies and social relations in remote parts of the globe. The resulting globalization of capital has given a free reign to the transnationals to impose on society capitalist practices on a global scale, such that only the biggest and most powerful capitalist monopolies have become the real beneficiaries.

This work challenges the popular view that globalization threatens the role of the nation-state in determining national policy. It examines the fundamental issue of competitiveness and market power in an increasingly borderless and co-dependent world. Despite this increased threat to the nation-state as an effective manager of the national economy, the authors argue that there are a number of options and alternatives open to governments to protect themselves from the global business cycle.

Is globalisation just a cliche for our times, an expression of the current 'Zeitgeist', or could it be used as an analytical tool to better understand the profound and rapid changes in the world order that we are currently witnessing? What kind of changes does the the globalisation process imply for the development of democracy, for sovereignty and economic progress? And how can we influence this process towards inclusion instead of marginalisation, towards enhanced democracy instead of uncontrolled market dominance? These are the main themes addressed in this volume by four distinguished scholars, aimed at increasing the understanding of ongoing transformations and thereby improving our capacity to shape our common future.

Has globalization forever undermined the state as the mighty guarantor of public welfare and security? In the 1990s, the prevailing and even hopeful view was that it had. The euphoria did not last long. Today the "return of the state" is increasingly being discussed as a desirable reality. This book is the first to bring together a group of prominent scholars from comparative politics, international relations, and sociology to systematically reassess--through a historical lens that moves beyond the standard focus on the West--state-society relations and state power at the dawn of the twenty-first century. The contributors examine the sources and forms of state power in light of a range of welfare and security needs in order to tell us what states can do today. They assess the extent to which international social forces affect states, and the capacity of states to adapt in specific issue areas. Their striking conclusion is that states have continued to be pivotal in diverse areas such as nationalism, national security, multiculturalism, taxation, and industrial relations. Offering rich insights on the changing contours of state power, The Nation-State in Question will be of interest to social scientists, students, and policymakers alike. John Hall's introduction is followed by chapters by Peter Baldwin, John Campbell, Francesco Duina, Grzegorz Ekiert, Jeffrey Herbst, Christopher Hood, Anatoly Khazanov, Brendan O'Leary, T. V. Paul, Bernard Yack, Rudra Sil, and Minxin Pei. The conclusion is by John Ikenberry.

Is the nation state under siege? A common answer is that globalization poses two fundamental threats to state sovereignty. The first concerns the unleashing of centrifugal and centripetal forces - such as increasing market integration and the activities of institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and WTO - that imperil state sovereignty from 'outside' the nation state. The second threat emanates from self-determination movements that jeopardize state sovereignty from 'inside'. Rigorously analyzing popular hypotheses on globalization's effect on state sovereignty from a broad social sciences perspective, the authors use empirical evidence to suggest that globalization's multilevel threats to state sovereignty have been overestimated. In most instances globalization is likely to generate pressure for increased government spending while only one form of market integration - foreign direct investment by multinational enterprises - appears to increase any feeling of economic insecurity. This volume will be invaluable to course instructors at both graduate and undergraduate levels, policy makers and members of the general public who are concerned about the effects of globalization on the nation-state.

This innovative new text is derived from a highly successful Open University course of the same title. It takes as a dominant theme the contested issue of ‘globalization’ (the apparent intensification of global patterns of inter-dependence) and its implications for the autonomy of the modern nation-state. Following a conceptual introduction, which critically examines the theoretical debates framing the study of world politics, the work is structured around four key processes of globalization which the authors identify as being the central determinants of contemporary global politics. These key processes are: the global impact of great power relations; the globalizing tendencies of technological innovation; the existence of a global economy; and the globalizing force of modernity. Reflecting this structure the text is organized into four discrete sections. Each section explores, both theoretically and empirically, one of the four processes of globalization. Throughout, particular attention is paid both to a critical evaluation of these globalizing processes as well as to their consequences for the sovereignty and autonomy of the modern nation-state. Moreover, the authors combine a lucid treatment of theoretical debates with topical case-study material to produce a text which is extremely accessible to undergraduate students studying international relations and politics and to those readers with little prior knowledge of world affairs.

A masterful analysis that will redefine the workings of the global economy for years to come.