ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the changing forms of competition in an increasingly global economy and the associated reorientation of state activities to secure national competitiveness. It examines the state's structural selectivity and strategic capacities and relates these to shifts in official discourse about competitiveness. The chapter examines some theoretical and empirical problems in the field of globalization, structural competitiveness, and state policies. For the Schumpeterian workfare state can take neoliberal, neocorporatist, and neostatist forms, depending on institutional legacies and the balance of political forces. The Swedish and Danish states have some common features in their strategic capacities and in this context can both be described as 'negotiated economies'. One crucial effect is that national economic space is no longer the most obvious starting point for pursuing economic growth, technological innovation, or structural competitiveness. Neo-Schumpeterian views clearly adopt an account of structural competitiveness informed by shifts in technoeconomic paradigms and long-wave theories of capitalist accumulation.
