ABSTRACT
Critics of neo-liberalism have been slow to develop cogent alternative perspectives, and have found themselves defending outdated models of classical liberal internationalism based on centralized sovereign states. Too often they neglect the significant changes in the form and functions of the state, or the public sphere more generally, which have resulted from widespread experiences of state failure. This includes not only the collapse of state socialism, but also crises and radical reforms of developed capitalist states, including US regulated corporatism, European-style social-democratic welfare states, and the developmental states of Japan and the Asian tigers. The reasons have been equally diverse, and have involved a mixture of political and economic factors. Nevertheless, these processes can be seen to have much in common, involving a transition to postindustrial capitalism, or what has been called the Information Age (Castells 1998).
