The Necessity of Multiple Nation-States for Capital

Abstract

Does capitalism require a system of multiple nation-states and, if so, why? This article argues that the existing states system is neither historically contingent nor the fusion of separate logics, but an inescapable product of competitive accumulation based on wage labor. In particular, two defining aspects of the system, competition between capitals and the exploitation of labor by capital, explain the reasons for the persistence of the states system: on the one hand, the need for capitals to be territorially aggregated for competitive purposes; on the other, the need for that territory to have an ideological basis—nationalism—that can be used to bind the working class to the state and hence to capital. A proper understanding can be achieved only by giving equal weight to both external geopolitical relationships and internal nationalist politics as aspects of the totality of capitalism.

Keywords:

• Capitalism
• Nation-States
• Competition
• Ideology
• Imperialism

Notes

¹I owe the notion of “entailment” to Colin Barker.

²I owe this point to Pepijn Brandon, who is developing the analysis for his Ph.D. at the University of Amsterdam.