ABSTRACT
The transition from feudalism to capitalism was accompanied by a number of preconditions that gave rise to capitalism and the capitalist state that came to dominate the social formations of Western Europe by the early eighteenth century. This chapter examines the origins of the capitalist state in Europe and the United States, providing an analysis of its nature, dynamics, and contradictions through its development over the centuries. With the postwar expansion of U.S. capital on a global scale came the political expansion of the U.S. state; together they came to articulate the interests of U.S. capitalism throughout the world. In examining the decline of feudalism and the rise of capitalism in Western Europe, Marx conceived of two possible paths of development that could lead to the emergence of capitalism in formations previously dominated by the feudal mode of production: merchant to capitalist, and craftsman to capitalist.
