Conventional wisdom argues that the integration of the world economy is making national governments less powerful, but Linda Weiss disagrees. In an era when global society and the transnational market are trendy concepts, she suggests that state capacities for domestic transformative strategies provide a competitive advantage. Some of the most successful economies rely on state-informed and state-embedded institutions for governing the economy. In fact, she contends, the strength of external economic pressures is largely determined domestically, and the effect of such pressures varies with the strength of domestic institutions.

Weiss analyzes the sources and varieties of state capacity for governing industrial transformation in contemporary cases: the unraveling of Sweden's distributive model of adjustment, the evolution of developmental states in Northeast Asia, and the parallel strengths of the German and Japanese systems of industrial coordination. Her comparative perspective allows her to show how different types of state capacity affect industrial vitality and domestic adjustment to global forces. As economic integration proceeds, she concludes, state capabilities will matter more rather than less in fostering social well-being and the creation of wealth.

Linda M. Weiss is an Australian professor of political science at the University of Sydney (USYD), specialising in the international and comparative politics of economic development.

Weiss is best known for questioning the converging effect associated with globalisation by pointing to the mediating role played by domestic nation-state institutions and capabilities and arguing that the effect non-state powers have upon a government can be enabling as well as constraining. Furthermore, within this argument, rather than a movement towards a neoliberal model, Weiss sees the emergence of what she calls 'governed interdependence'. This theory is forwarded in 'The Myth of the Powerless State' (1998) and submitted to empirical testing in 'States in the Global Economy' (2003).

Weiss' work is directly influenced by Michael Mann whom she worked under during her formative years.

Of additional note, 'How to Kill a Country' (2004), authored with Thurbon and Mathews, was the first sustained critical analysis of the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement signed and ratified by both countries' governments in 2004. The authors regard the Agreement as a sub-optimal deal for Australia and in later work put forward the argument that the Australian government misread their special relationship with the US and proceeded with the Agreement for public relations reasons, particularly with regard to the issue of Australia-US relations during the 2004 Australian federal election.