The Socialist Transitional State and the Contradictions of the Multipolar World-system

Abstract The article analyses the role of the socialist transitional state in the emerging multipolar world-system. In the first section, I present the concept of the socialist transitional state. Using the analytic tool of the principal contradiction I describe the transformation from the bipolar world-system, into the unipolar world-system during neoliberal globalization, and finally into the into multipolarity. With the concept of the transitional state and multipolarity in place, I discuss how they interact in the world-system. First their position vis-à-vis a declining U.S. hegemony. Then I examine the contradictions within the multipolar world-system. Finally, I draw some strategic conclusions from this analysis, which can be useful in the future struggle to end capitalism and build socialism.