Mode of Production, National States and Imperialism

Abstract

In the previous chapters we have developed a periodisation of capitalism into three stages. We have done this at the level of the mode of production, without considering concrete social formations. Moreover, we have abstracted from the existence of national states so that the periodisation of the capitalist mode at which we arrive is one constructed from the tendencies and contradictions of capital accumulation in general. Now the national state appears to be a simple concept but this is not so. We must ask what distinguishes the national state from the state in general and examine the relationship between it and capital.