Las Nuevas Funciones del Estado

Abstract

En el artículo se vuelcan algunos de los hallazgos de los estudios realizados en un equipo interdisciplinario sobre los efectos de la globalización en el Estado, unidad de análisis de Ciencia Política tradicional. Los Estados tienden a integrarse entre ellos, cediendo algunas de de sus funciones a la Unión correspondiente; y asimismo se "desintegran" ante el desarrollo de los poderes locales.

The article analyses the tension between the enlargement of the functions of the State (1930-1970) and the changes that have been introduced by the financial, economical and communicational globalization. It is clear that in peripherals regions of the world as in Latin America these changes, the transformation and the reduction of the State can affect its nature and its own possibility of survival. However we understand as «new functions of the State» the processes of increasingly interdependence and relationships with other states, the creation of regional organizations and several types of decentralization.The idea about the central role of the State have been re-placed by new meanings about politics and political process. These «new functions of the State» with the participation of the society can improve democratization, accountability of politicians and public officers, empowerment of citizenship, and efficient control of the power by civil and social actors in any region of the world.