Driving Change in Troubling Times: Security, Risk and the State in Global Production Networks

This editorial revisits the state – global production network (GPN) nexus in times of multiple crises affecting the global economy and society. Setting the scene, we first reflect on the role of geopolitics in transforming GPNs under conditions of increasing uncertainty before turning our attention to the ways in which states deal with questions of security and navigate risk. It also highlights the increasingly overt role of strategic state strategies vis-a-vis GPNs. In a second step, we discuss the central, constitutive role of the state in processes of strategic coupling, decoupling and recoupling, before presenting some concluding thoughts.