Globalization and the Boundaries of the State: A Framework for Analyzing the Changing Practice of Sovereignty

The impact of globalization on the sovereignty of the modern state has been a source of great controversy among political scientists. In this article, I offer a framework for understanding the state as a boundary‐setting institution, which changes shape and role over time and place. I argue that, rather than undermining the state, globalization is a product of a rearrangement of the purposes, boundaries, and sovereign authority of the state. Focusing on the United States, the article traces the changing shape of state sovereignty through a study of the patterns of immigration policy and politics over the past three decades. Immigration policy, I argue, provides a unique insight into the continuities and changes in the role of the state in an era of globalization.