How do we conceptualize the role of the state in the context of globalization? Motivated by this puzzle, this study primarily aims to explore what kind of role states have played among their interactions with various actors in the context of globalization. Through understanding major positions and tendencies in the current globalization debate and examining both substantive and normative changes in the processes of globalizations, the study defines globalization as a set of significant substantive and normative changes that not only compress time and space as well as increase, widen, and accelerate worldwide interconnectedness in multiple dimensions, but also alter our thinking about values, ethics, priorities, lifestyles, worldviews, forms of rationality, and modes of political and socioeconomic institutions. The dissertation further elaborates the political-economic impact of globalization and the relationship between the state and globalization. After all, the study assumes that states are increasingly taking such roles as initiators, facilitators, accommodators, coordinators, and persuaders to interact with other actors in the realm of political economy in response to globalization.; By conducting comparative case studies to examine the relationship between the state and various actors in the environment of globalization in both Taiwan and India, this study has learned empirically (1) states are still alive; (2) states have become increasingly embedded in and constrained by an expanding, denser, and more complex network twined by transnational and internal socioeconomic interactions, interdependencies and negotiation relationships; and (3) in addition to some traditional roles like protectors, the state has tended to or been forced to assume more active, catalytic, and balancing roles such as initiators, facilitators, accommodators, coordinators, and persuaders in the realm of political economy under globalization. Based on these findings, the study finally suggests an alternative conception about the role of the state for the study of globalization. That is, states are reconfiguring and adapting themselves to globalization, and states should assume service-oriented roles like initiators, facilitators, accommodators, coordinators, or persuaders in the realm of political economy in response to globalization. This dissertation thus adds to the further understanding of the relationship between globalization and the state.
展开▼
