ABSTRACT
This chapter asks, how has China’s integration into the global economy
altered the Chinese state, and in turn, how has the global economy been
shaped by the state? It examines how the international system has affected
the character of the Chinese state, while also giving due attention to how
China’s domestic political institutions and structures have mediated the
effects of international integration.1 It argues that the Chinese state, and its
domestic political institutions, are located at the interstices of the country’s internationalization process. This implies reciprocal causation: the Chinese
state is changed by, but also actively shapes, the globalization process,
resulting in qualitative changes in the form and role of the Chinese state that
can be called ‘‘the internationalization of the state.’’ The internationaliza-
tion of the state in China refers to a process of state restructuring whereby
the Chinese state is reoriented from a nationally focused, centrally planned
economy to one that is more reliant on international linkages to global
markets and investment networks. Prior to this shift, China’s engagement with the international economy was a ‘‘residual item.’’ Since the opening,
government priority has been placed on engaging with the global economy
as a principal means to promoting national developmental goals.
