Conclusion

The aim of this chapter has been twofold: first, to outline the various positions in the globalization literature, particularly, in relation to the affect of globalization on the nation state; and, second, to examine in greater detail the complex relationship between economic processes, discourse(s) and policy outcomes.

In so doing, we have made three core claims. First, and in contrast to many conventional accounts, we have argued that one cannot read the ‘hollowing out’ of the state from globalization. This is not only because external economic pressures are crucially mediated within distinctive national contexts but also, as Hay demonstrates, because these economic pressures are by no means ‘globalized’. Second - and again in contrast to most conventional accounts, including the complex globalization thesis - we have emphasized the need to take the role of discourses seriously. Whilst external economic factors certainly influence the policy options available to a state, the discursive construction of that context also crucially mediates governments’ responses. Third - and this is where we engage with Hay’s approach - those discourses do not, however, simply emerge from thin air. Rather, they are crucially mediated by the broader economic, political and cultural context in which they are situated. In this sense, the relationship between the material and the ideational is best seen as dialectical; that is, interactive and iterative. So, the question is not so much whether economic pressures, political factors, ideational factors and so on ‘matter’, but rather how they might be unpacked in order to investigate the complex way in which they interact within specific contexts. We have attempted to give a flavour of how this might be done through a variety of different examples and country case studies.

Conclusion

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