Revisiting the question of the transnational state: A comment on William Robinson’s “Social theory and globalization”

Abstract

William Robinson's thoughtful and provocative essay calls for a recasting of the parameters of social theory in light of the structural shifts associated with globalization. In particular, he argues that the sociology of the state needs to acknowledge the growing "deterritorialization" of economic and political relationships at the turn of the twenty-first century. To accomplish this, he deploys the concept of the "transnational state" (TNS) as the embryonic political form of economic globalization. Robinson bases this conceptual intervention on a theoretical claim for "a 'deterritorialization' of the relationship of capital to the state," and "the 'pure' reproduction of social relations, that is, a process not mediated by fixed geo-political dynamics." This is a bold claim indeed. It suggests that we have arrived at a point where Marx's theory of capital now corresponds to reality. Alternatively, it reaffirms the claims made by the agents of capital that globalization is here to stay and there is no alternative. It is these implications that I wish to address in this comment.