ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the impacts new IPEs have on the Westphalian state and the middle class and their related futures. It explores six important themes regarding the twenty-first-century IPE. The first theme is that at least three IPEs can be said to exist: the formal (legitimate) economy, the criminal (illicit) economy, and the sovereign free (plutocratic) economy. The second theme is that significant profit is no longer in the formal economy. The third theme is that variants of capitalism are in conflict as are the differing social classes of the capitalists themselves. The fourth theme is that this globalized conflict is not a conventional struggle as normally fought between states but is, rather, asymmetric in nature. The fifth theme is that Westphalian states and sub-national and supra-national organizations are organized very differently. The sixth theme promotes the facade that globalized capitalism and the supra-bourgeoisie are in alignment and exist in a functional relationship with state moderated capitalism and the petty-bourgeoisie.
