In response to Töpfer’s incisive critique of how current work on global production networks and global financial networks (GFNs) have been too firm-centric and reliant on neoliberal market framings, this commentary highlights three key points for developing a deeper conceptualization of the state in financial processes and networks. The first addresses the role of the state and inter-firm relations, the second deals with conceptualizations of power and agency, and the third is a call to go boldly beyond authoritarian capitalist regimes in moving toward a state-led conceptualization of GFNs.
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