capitalist state

The state provision of infrastructure, external economies, and a regulatory framework facilitates accumulation. The state can limit or increase the freedom of market actors, raise or lower taxes, intervene in major financial crises, and defend and secure its territory—none of which can be accomplished by transnational corporations. The theory of the capitalist state argues that such functions legitimize the state's existence. B. Jessop (2002) focuses upon the structural coupling and co-evolution of accumulation regimes and political regimes.

It is argued that the state's capacity to manoeuvre the accumulation regime has been weakened by international finance, trading blocs, and so on, leading to a loss of national sovereignty; see Zaky (2005) Res. Pol. Econ. 22.