Description
The rapid disintegration of the international liberal order taking place in the current moment is situated within a process of capitalist restructuring which has long been underway. One analytical tool that has gained considerable attention in recent scholarship is the concept of a “new” state capitalism, used to describe the return of the economic role of the state, including statist policies, institutions, and norms in the world economy, and the proliferation of state-capital hybrids, paying particular attention to emerging economies, especially China. If International Studies is to meet the global challenges of the coming decades, it must look beyond Global North perspectives and incorporate theoretical approaches which take seriously the role of the state in development. With this goal, I contend that this “new” state capitalism, defined by Alami and Dixon as the rapidly increasing share of the activities of the world capitalist economy being undertaken directly by states, including as the promoter, supervisor, and owner of capital, is the emergence of a pluripolar world order. That is, if the world capitalist system is understood though uneven and combined development, and the role of the state is recognized as being historically bound up with the development of capitalism, this shift in the world order is not a case of state capitalism replacing liberal capitalism, but of combined development prevailing over uneven development as emerging economies are increasingly able to pursue their development goals.
