They continue to develop. Throughout this period crises are infrequent and not too serious. The state plays a background role as competition gets rid of the weak - it is the free play of the system. Fall in the rate of profit of over accumulated capital. War is essential if crises are to overcome - destruction frees markets.
Wars are no longer enough to overcome crises.
This period is characterised by the State's seizure of the most important sections of the economy, of the labour market. Bureaucracy develops, discipline and regulation are imposed on labour. Politically as economically this period tends to take on a totalitarian form. An examination of the forms of the State previous to the period of the rise of capitalism, and of the present day forms of the State, leads us to see the State as being important other than just as an instrument. And the State of the imperialist stage of capitalism, the State of today, is tending away from being superstructure to itself becoming 'structure'.