The state is potentially our best ally when it comes to dealing with the problems that capitalism causes. The state is, at least in theory, tremendously powerful; nothing and no one can match the width and depth of its reach. According to a well-worn theory first enunciated in the Renaissance, the state is ‘sovereign,’ meaning that there is no authority above it – no emperors or popes – and no authority below it – no feudal lords or independent peasant communities – that can challenge its position. The state is, in Max Weber's famous definition, ‘a human community that successfully claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory’. The state can imprison people, expropriate their assets, send them to war to kill or to die, and it can do so legitimately. The question is whether there is a way to use this formidable entity to protect us against the impact of markets.

The state, in the European tradition, is not only tremendously powerful but also highly robust. It is made up not of individuals but of institutions, standardized procedures and regulatory frameworks. As such it always outlasts the people who happen to occupy its positions, and it is also highly resistant to attempts at reform. The state is somehow too large and too complex for anyone to properly control or manipulate. Moreover, the European state is sometime given what perhaps best is described as a transcendental status.