John Mikler introduces this special section on Global Companies and Emerging Market Economies. Drawing together experts in the field, these articles examine the institutional context of state-corporate relations in the modern world. Given that ‘global companies are central actors in global policy and governance, and therefore central to conceptualizing the economic, social and political transformations in world affairs that are encapsulated in the term ‘globalization’, the contributors show how this is important for understanding the way in which 'states and their corporations are emerging, and will continue to emerge, together'.