ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses four views with respect to the nature and role of globalization and state. Political globalization is a process which is intrinsically connected to the expansion of markets. The state is the principal and dominant actor in international arena and devotes considerable efforts to the preservation of national sovereignty. States compete with each other in supporting research and development in high-technology sectors, restructuring industry, and deregulating financial markets. The production processes of the capitalist world economy are built on a central antinomic relationship between capital and labor. The global economy not only constrains but also enables governments to pursue their national policy objectives. The functionalist paradigm views globalization and state as eroding state power, the interpretive paradigm views globalization and state as maintaining overall state power, the radical humanist paradigm views globalization and state as dividing the power of state, and the radical structuralist paradigm views globalization and state as the domination of stronger over weaker states.
