This paper responds to calls for more research into public entrepreneurship, for delivering public value as opposed to the narrower view of public goods, and for re-organising states for alternative post-capitalist governance by revisiting a long-term but unresolved academic debate: the role of the state (government). It presents conceptually relevant arguments from seminal and contemporary academic debates on the role of the state and state establishments. It demonstrates that an understanding of the role of the state is a starting point in the reorganisation of states and proposes a novel additional role that most states have not yet considered, as well as identifying the state establishments that are available to assist states in fulfilling the extended role. Propositions were developed to sustain the extended role and to indicate that  the approach to re-imagining the role of the state adds value for academic, practice, and policymaker observers. The report concludes by providing avenues for further research opportunities.