The Twenty-First Century Economy Between Global Law and National Legal Systems: The Strength of the Market and the Weakness of the State

In the current economic context, each day market operators move huge amounts of capital by directing their investments in favour of some regional and national economies. They invest in markets or public debt securities, often to the detriment of other countries, and in some cases, marking the destiny of governments or even the stability, not only economic but also social, of entire nations. Moreover, in recent years, the overriding force of technology has been added to this financial domination, placing a limit on national sovereignty. In this context, the aim of this chapter is to highlight the emerging and increasingly important role of so-called sovereign private entities, for whom only the processes of supranational integration can represent an attempt to react to protect democratically legitimized state sovereignty.