Globalizacion y estado del bienestar

Abstract

It is increasingly common ¡n the public debate to find arguments that link the growing economic internationalization with the (apparent) crisis of the govemment's capacity to intervene in society. In the article I try to argüe against this too simplistic view of the globalization phenomenon. I offer two arguments to explain why states may not be facing such a crisis. On the one hand, national governments have played a central role in the creation of a new and more intemationalized economic orden On the other hand, available evidence indicates that higher levéis of economic openness do not lead to less state intervention. Instead, it can be expected that govemments may be forced to respond with renewed action in the economic sphere due to growing demands of groups negatively affected by internationalization. In the last section, I use these arguments to examine the process of European integration, a paradigmatic example for some of the loss of capabilities of the state.