Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:03:06.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paradoxes of the Competition State: The Dynamics of Political Globalization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Philip G. Cerny
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE NATION-STATE INTO A ‘COMPETITION state’ lies at the heart of political globalization. In seeking to adapt to a range of complex changes in cultural, institutional and market structures, both state and market actors are attempting to reinvent the state as a quasi-‘enterprise association’ in a wider world context, a process which involves three central paradoxes. The first paradox is that this process does not lead to a simple decline of the state but may be seen to necessitate the actual expansion of de facto state intervention and regulation in the name of competitiveness and marketization.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , April 1997 , pp. 251 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Ionescu, Ghita, The Break–up of the Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1966 Google Scholar.

2 Ionescu, Ghita, ‘The Impact of the Information Revolution on Parliamentary Sovereignties’, Government and Opposition, Vol. 28, No. 2, Spring 1993, p. 235 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 This question, and the conviction that the world is entering upon a qualitatively new industrial–technological era, was at the heart of Ghita Ionescu’s work throughout his academic career, from his understanding of change in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, through Centripetal Politics, London, Hart–Davis, MacGibbon, 1975, especially ch. 1 and his interest in Saint–Simon, to his article on the information revolution in Government and Opposition in 1993, op. cit.

4 Robertson, Roland., Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture, London and Thousand Oaks, Cal., Sage, 1992 Google Scholar.

5 Douglas, Ian R., ‘Globalization, Governance and the Assembly of Forces: J’Accuse’, paper presented to a Workshop on Globalization and Governance, Indianapolis, Indiana, 11–13 10 1996 Google Scholar.

6 On structures and political structuration, see Cerny, P. G., The Changing Architecture of Politics: Structure, Agency and the Future of the State, London and Thousand Oaks, Sage, 1990 Google Scholar, chs 1–4.

7 See Kuhn, Thomas., The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago, Chicago University Press, 1962 Google Scholar, for the notion of paradigms.

8 Cerny, P. G., ‘Globalization and Other Stories: The Search for a New Paradigm for International Relations’, International Journal, Vol. LI, No. 4, Autumn 1996, pp. 617–637 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Levi, Margaret., ‘The Predatory Theory of Rule’, Politics & Society, Vol. 10, No. 4, Autumn 1981, pp. 431–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Tönnies, Ferdinand, Community and Association, East Lansing, MI, Michigan State University Press, 1957 Google Scholar (originally published as Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, 1887).

11 See Auspitz, Josiah Lee, ‘Individuality, Civility, and Theory: The Philosophical Imagination of Michael Oakeshott’, Political Theory, Vol 4, no. 3, 08 1976, pp. 361–352Google Scholar; also Oakeshott, Michael., ‘On Misunderstanding Human Conduct: A Reply to my Critics’, in ibid., pp. 353–67Google Scholar.

12 Hirst, Paul. and Thompson, Grahame., Globalization in Question: The International Political Economy and the Possibilities of Governance, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1995 Google Scholar; Boyer, Robert. and Drache, Daniel, (eds), States Against Markets: The Limits of Globalization, London, Routledge, 1996 Google Scholar; Zysman, John., ‘The Myth of a “Global” Economy: Enduring National Foundations and Emerging Regional Realities’, New Political Economy, Vol. 1, No. 1, Summer 1996, pp. 157–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Radice, Hugo., ‘The Question of Globalization: A Review of Hirst and Thompson’, presented at the annual meeting of the Conference of Socialist Economists, Newcastle–upon–Tyne, 12–14 07 1996 Google Scholar.

14 Minc, Alain., Le nouveau Moyen Age, Paris, Gallimard, 1993 Google Scholar; Kaplan, Robert D., ‘The Coming Anarchy’, The Atlantic Monthly, 02 1994, pp. 44–76 Google Scholar; Cronin, Bruce. and Lepgold, Joseph., ‘A New Medievalism? Conflicting International Authorities and Competing Loyalties in the Twenty–First Century’, paper presented to the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Chicago, 23–27 02 1995 Google Scholar; Kobrin, Stephen., ‘Back to the Future: Neomedievalism and the Post–Modern World Economy’, paper presented to the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, San Diego, CA, 17–21 04 1996 Google Scholar.

15 Ruggie, John Gerard, Caporaso, James A., Weber, Steve and Kahier, Miles., Symposium: Multilateralism, special section in International Organization, Vol. 46, No. 3, Summer 1992, pp. 561–708 Google Scholar.

16 Keohane, Robert O. and Milner, Helen, (eds), Internationalization and Domestic Politics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996 CrossRefGoogle Scholar

17 Granovetter, Mark., ‘Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness’, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 91, No. 4, 11 1985, pp. 50–82 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Granovetter, , ‘Economic Institutions as Social Constructions: A Framework for Analysis’, Acta Sociologica, No. 35, 1992, pp. 3–11 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 A ‘quango’, or quasi–autonomous non–governmental organization, is an authoritative body licensed by the state to carry out public regulatory functions but made up of appointed representatives of private sector interests. It is probably best considered to be a variant of state corporatism.

19 Ruggie, John Gerard, ‘International Regimes, Transactions, and Change: Embedded Liberalism in the Post–War Order’, International Organization, Vol. 36, No. 4, Autumn 1982, pp. 379–415 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ruggie here also uses the word liberalism’in its American meaning.

20 O’Connor, James, The Fiscal Crisis of the State, New York, St Martinx2019;s Press, 1973 Google Scholar.

21 Block, Fred L., The Origins of International Economic Disorder: A Study of United States Monetary Policy from World War II to the Present, Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1977; Susan Strange., Casino Capitalism, Oxford, Blackwell, 1986Google Scholar.

22 Cerny, P. G., ‘The Infrastructure of the Infrastructure? Toward “Embedded Financial Orthodoxy” in the International Political Economy’, in Palan, Ronen P. and Gills, Barry, (eds), Transcending the State–Global Divide: A Neostructuralist Agenda in International Relations, Boulder, Co., Lynne Reinner, 1994, pp. 223–49Google Scholar.

23 The distinction between comparative advantage and competitive advantage is a central theme of Zysman, John. and Tyson, Laura d’Andrea, (eds), American Industry in International Competition, Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 1983 Google Scholar.

24 Estrin, Saul. and Holmes, Peter., French Planning in Theory and Practice, London, Allen & Unwin, 1982 Google Scholar.

25 Lindblom, Charles E., Politics and Markets: The World’s Political–Economic Systems, New York, Basic Books, 1977 Google Scholar.

26 Osborne, David. and Gaebler, Ted., Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector, From Schoolhouse to Statehouse, City Hall to the Pentagon, Reading, Mass., Addison–Wesley, 1992 Google Scholar.

27 Frieden, Jeffry A., ‘Invested Interests: The Politics of National Economic Policies in a World of Global Finance’, International Organization, Vol. 45, No. 4, Autumn 1991, pp. 425–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 Zysman, John., Governments, Markets, and Growth: Financial Systems and the Politics of Industrial Change, Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 1983 Google Scholar; Johnson, Chalmers., M.I.T.L and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925–1975, Stanford, Cal., Stanford University Press, 1982 Google Scholar.

30 Zysman, John., ‘The Myth of the “Global” Economy’: Enduring National Foundations and Emerging Regional Realities’, New Political Economy, Vol. 1, No. 1, Summer 1996, pp. 157–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

31 Crozier, Michel. and Friedberg, Erhard., L’acteur et le systeme: les contraintes de l’action collective, Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1977 Google Scholar.

32 Cerny, P. G., ‘Dynamics of Financial Globalization: Technology, Market Structure, and Policy Response’, Policy Sciences, Vol. Policy Sciences, No. 4, 11 1994, pp. 319–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 Goodman, John B. and Pauly, Louis W., ‘The Obsolescence of Capital Controls? Economic Management in an Age of Global Markets’, World Politics, Vol. 46, No. 4, 10 1993, pp. 50–82 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kaplan, Ethan B., Governing the Global Economy: International Finance and the State, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1994 Google Scholar; Helleiner, Eric N., ‘Post–Globalization: Is the Financial Liberalization Trend Likely to be Reversed?’, in Boyer, Robert. and Drache, Daniel (eds), States Against Markets: The Limits of Globalization, London, Routledge, 1996 Google Scholar; Cerny, P. G., ‘International Finance and the Erosion of State Policy Capacity’, in Gummett, Philip (ed.), Globalization and Public Policy, Cheltenham, Glos., and Brookfield, VT, Elgar, 1996, pp. 83–104 Google Scholar.

34 Andrews, David M., ‘Capital Mobility and State Autonomy: Toward a Structural Theory of International Monetary Relations’, International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 2, 06 1994, pp. 193–218 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 Dunleavy, Patrick., ‘The Globalization of Public Services Production: Can Government Be “Best in World”?’, Public Policy and Administration, Vol. 9, No. 1, Summer 1994, pp. 36–64 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

36 Machin, Howard. and Wright, Vincent (eds), Economic Policy and Policy Making Under the Mitterrand Presidency, 1981–84, London, Pinter, 1985 Google Scholar.

37 Haas, Peter (ed.), Knowledge, Power, and International Policy Coordination, special issue of International Organization, Vol. 46, No. 1, Winter 1992 Google Scholar; cf. Stone, Diane, Capturing the Political Imagination: Think–Tanks and the Policy Process, London, Frank Cass, 1996 Google Scholar.

38 Stopford, John. and Strange, Susan., Rival States, Rival Firms: Competition for World Market Shares, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

39 Reich, Robert B., The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st–Century Capitalism, New York, Knopf, 1991 Google Scholar

40 Singer, Max. and Wildavsky, Aaron., The Real World Order: Zones of Peace/Zones of Turmoil, Chatham, NJ, Chatham House Publishers, 1993 Google Scholar.