ABSTRACT
The notion that an integrated global economy has developed in recent decades has become part of a new conventional wisdom. It is widely believed that distinct national economies with their own dynamics have dissolved into the world system. Not only have competitive pressures now become predominantly international, but national public policies are now so constrained by global market forces that there is little room for manoeuvre, let alone for radical alternatives. The new global system is driven by uncontrollable international financial market forces and dominated by large transnational companies that invest, produce and sell wherever their own economic advantage dictates. Capital is becoming increasingly international capital, without consideration for national origins. States cannot singly or collectively govern world markets. They have to accept, if they are not to act against the interests of their societies, that the only roles remaining to them are to promote the competitiveness of local economic actors and to make their territory as attractive as they can to inward investment by internationally mobile capital.
