Abstract

In contrast to current notions of globalization having resulted in a diminution of state sovereignty, capitalism is better able to reproduce itself within a national formation. There is thus no such thing as global capitalism but merely imperialism, i. e., an uneven articulation of national formations. Within this framework the state and its mechanisms are there to ensure the unimpeded reproduction of capitalist relations. Each instance of class struggle modifies the structures of the state. What characterizes the contemporary state is thus not diminution of its activities, but its transformation from a social state to a headquarters state. This second type of state embodies the downturn in popular assertiveness in recent years, one symptom of which is contraction in the state's social functions, changing it into an authoritarian institution elaborating bourgeois strategies