This article explores the notion of a transnational state (TNS) as advanced by scholars working within Historical Materialism. In recent decades, Historical Materialist approaches to the Social Sciences have enjoyed a major intellectual renaissance. Fittingly, the reasons for this renaissance can be found in some major developments within contemporary capitalism. The first of these developments can be located in a renewed interest in the topic of imperialism as an interpretive category of geopolitics, especially following military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. The second development concerns the viability of the capitalist system itself - or at least its neoliberal iteration - following the global financial crisis of 2007/8. One major attempt to comprehend these issues has come through the postulation of an emergent TNS apparatus as part of a new global capital relation. This article explores this thesis but argues that it fails to adequately account for continued plurality, contingency and struggle at the nation-state scale which in turn provides the basis for potential conflict.
Hesketh, Chris
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences\Department of Social Sciences
Year of publication: 2018Date of RADAR deposit: 2018-06-27
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