ABSTRACT
The previous chapter discussed various aspects of the state’s form. We focused on the historical development of the state and emphasised the significance of the state’s efforts to control space as territory. As such, Chapter 2 concerned the internal political geographies of the state. The aim of this chapter is to complement this discussion by pressing the ‘timing and spacing’ button to focus on the changing forms and functions of the state. We specifically examine the changing institutional forms and functions of the capitalist state by drawing on a régulation approach to political economy and the state. The term ‘political economy’ is frequently used to discuss the interrelationships that exist between economic, social and political processes, which are forged through power relations as ‘moving parts’ (see Peet and Thrift 1989). The régulation approach has a neo-Marxist take on political economy that stresses the ways in which capitalism is managed through state, economy and society ‘interactions’ (Florida and Jonas 1991). Box 3.1 introduces capitalism and summarises the differences between Marxism, structural Marxism and neo-Marxism approaches to political economy. This chapter, therefore, suggests that state institutional forms and functions can be explored in relation to the ways in which states are embedded or ‘integrated’ into different economic, social and political processes; and vice versa.
