Globalization and the State (Paperback)

Globalization is increasingly cited as a major factor shaping social, political and economic change. This book critically examines the implications of globalization for political life and its relationship to economic and cultural change. Globalization and the Stateplaces the contemporary debate in a historical context by tracing the changing form of the state since AD 1000, showing the continuities and changes that have marked the contemporary situation. It argues that the impact of globalizations is changing the relationship between states and other social actors yet the influence of the image of the nation state leads us to overstate the novelty and extent of recent changes. Focusing on the interdependence of structures and agents, this book examines the political strategies open to states and non-state actors in a shrinking world. It draws on examples from the politics of the drug trade to the economy of satellite broadcasting in East Asia to provide a framework for thinking about globalization that shows the relationship between economic and cultural change and the practice of politics at the end of the twentieth century. This book will be ideal reading for students and academics interested in the debates about globalization in sociology, politics, communication studies, economics, anthropology and international relations.