ABSTRACT
There are three interconnected discussions concerning the role of the state in the globalizing, post-Cold War world. The first focuses on the impact of globalization itself and the effect of the huge increase in cross-border flows of capital, information, people and ideas on the ability of governments to manage their own economies. A second, slightly older discussion, addresses the question of whether the state itself is in retreat as a result of both market forces and its inability to finance or sustain its previous levels of health, educational and welfare services. The third discussion concerns the ability of states to maintain their monopoly over the creation of values and the definition of citizenship in the face of new forces of pluralism, decentralization or local, ethnic and religious nationalism. Egyptian businesses practice a more direct form of avoidance when it comes to the establishment of new plants.
