State power beyond the 'territorial trap': the internationalization of thestate

In recent years, neo-liberal and neo-Weberian scholars have waged fierce de bates over whether or not the capacity of the nation-states to manage econo mic activity has been weakened by globalization. While siding with the neo- Weberians in their assertion that states retain substantial powers, this pa per argues that both neo-liberals and neo-Weberians share a problematic ass umption that states are anchored exclusively in the social forces deemed to lie within their national territories. By contrast, it is argued here that capitalist development has tended to promote internationalization of capit al, and with this the internationalization of the state. A theoretical appr oach to internationalization of the state is then outlined, showing how spe cific factions of capitalist classes can end up sharing concrete interests in specific state policies across national boundaries. The potential for tr ansnational coalitions among various fractions of capital, it is argued, ha s helped create the current hegemony of neo-liberal approaches among many T hird World state officials. Internationalization of the state thus suggests a need to rethink both the bases of Northeast and Southeast Asian economic growth and the nature of the current crisis afflicting countries in those regions. It may prove to be the case that the states which played important roles in Asian industrial development did so less as national entities tha n as actors within an internationalized system of class and inter-state rel ations which resulted from historical opportunities no longer available to most developing countries. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.