The Evolution of Modern States
Sweden, Japan, and the United States

The Evolution of Modern States, first published in 2010, examines the politics, history, and public policy of Sweden, Japan, and the United States.

Sven Steinmo (Author)

9780521145466, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 19 July 2010

288 pages, 16 b/w illus. 36 tables
23.1 x 15.5 x 2 cm, 0.41 kg

“Steinmo gives us a book that is bold in its conceptualization, challenging in its choice of cases, and rich in comparative insights. It challenges the underpinnings of a predictive and linear political science and demonstrates convincingly that different political systems, like the many species in nature, do not respond to phenomena like universal phenomena such as globlalization by becoming similar; rather they adapt in discreet ways that retain much of their long standing distinctiveness. A product of ‘big think,’ this book will generate serious debates across the field of comparative politics.”
– T.J. Pempel, University of California, Berkeley

The Evolution of Modern States, first published in 2010, is a significant contribution to the literatures on political economy, globalization, historical institutionalism, and social science methodology. The book begins with a simple question: why do rich capitalist democracies respond so differently to the common pressures they face in the early twenty-first century? Drawing on insights from evolutionary theory, Sven Steinmo challenges the common equilibrium view of politics and economics and argues that modern political economies are best understood as complex adaptive systems. The book examines the political, social, and economic history of three different nations - Sweden, Japan, and the United States - and explains how and why these countries have evolved along such different trajectories over the past century. Bringing together social and economic history, institutionalism, and evolutionary theory, Steinmo thus provides a comprehensive explanation for differing responses to globalization as well as a new way of analyzing institutional and social change.

1. Introduction: evolutionary narratives
2. Sweden: the evolution of a bumble-bee
3. The Japanese hybrid
4. The United States: strong nation - weak state
5. And yet it moves.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Comparative politics [JPB]