Globalization and the national state

Abstract

Poulantzas published his works well before the current uproar over globalization began and before claims about the death of the nation-state had become commonplace. However, the work he developed in the 1970s addressed some of the crucial themes of any serious Marxist analysis of the relationship between: a) changes in the capitalist economy on a global scale; b) the form and basic functions of the contemporary national capitalist State. These themes were initially addressed in a powerful and important essay on The internationalization of capitalist relations and the nation-state. The same themes were then discussed in three books: Social classes in today's capitalism, The crisis of dictatorships and The State, power, socialism.