Abstract

The paper develops three arguments as to why the state will remain a central actor in economic and social development, rather than become a residual authority under globalisation, and why economic integration has both state-reinforcing and state-augmenting effects. The first argument highlights the substantial scope for action in key policy arenas and links this to the "enabling" dynamics of globalisation, which heightens economic vulnerability and uncertainty. The second emphasises the structuring role of territorially-centred institutions and the ways in which these are "valorised" by globalisation. The final argument underscores the important ways in which global networks are closely "entwined" with, rather than independent of, national networks of interaction.