ABSTRACT
The issue that has dominated debates within international and comparative political economy since the late 1980s has been the impact of structural change in the global economy on distinct national capitalist models. More particularly, the continued viability of dirigiste economic strategies has been called into question and the extent to which we are witnessing a global convergence around a single neo-liberal model has been extensively discussed. A weakness that has dogged these debates has been the consistent failure to properly analyse the role that the state plays in the neo-liberal project.
