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Cardozo Law Review

Abstract

The nation-state surely is in decline. As John McGinnis eloquently demonstrates, power has become increasingly difficult to exercise on a territorial basis, in part because individuals no longer require physical protection from foreign invaders (a service the state performed with elan), in part because vastly enhanced capacities for exit expose states to unprecedented regulatory competition. Barring a resurgent security threat-something that takes the world back to the brink, restores the state's importance as defender, and justifies renewed constraints on mobility-the erosion of state control seems irreversible and undeniable. But if not the state, then what? Through Professor McGinnis's lens we see the possibility of a paradise regained and magnified, that of free-market, pre-New Deal federalism taken to global proportions. In a world in which capital can move freely, individuals gain leverage against Leviathan, and in turn interest groups will have less of Leviathan to dampen the efficiency of'society's most talented and productive elements. The regime of "international federalism" will turn the clock back on the bureaucratic state; free trade and investment emerge as the weapons by which big government is finally brought to its deserved demise.

Keywords

Business and the Law, Globalization, Foreign Affairs, Federalism, Political Theories and Ideologies, Jurisdiction

Disciplines

Jurisdiction | Law

Included in

Jurisdiction Commons

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