Transformations of the State?

This volume presents an innovative view of the nation-state and its future.

Stephan Leibfried (Edited by), Michael Zürn (Edited by)

9780521672382, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 June 2005

232 pages, 12 b/w illus.
24.6 x 17.6 x 1.7 cm, 0.425 kg

'The book is a great read, not only because the contributors obviously have a strong knowledge of their topic, but also because they are able to communicate this in a well-written and engaging fashion. … Transformations of the State? contributes importantly to our knowledge of the contemporary state's role in governing our societies. It is … highly recommended and should be read by anyone addressing the political underpinnings and implications of globalisation.' International Journal of Social Warfare

The influence of the state on human lives is more comprehensive and sustained than that of any other organizational construct. It steers the economy, fights crime, provides education, sustains democracy, enters wars, guarantees social welfare, collects taxes, and deploys some forty percent of the gross national product. Transformations of the State? defines the multi-faceted modern state in four intersecting dimensions: resources, or control of the use of force and revenues; law, or jurisdiction and the courts; legitimacy, or the acceptance of political rule by the populace; and welfare, or the facilitation of economic growth and social equality. The twentieth-century nation-state blended those dimensions and turned the post-WWII era into the golden age of the state. What has become of that state and its functions and what is its future? Political scientists, lawyers, economists and sociologists have examined a sample of OECD nation-states in the search for answers to these questions.

Part I. A New Perspective on the State: 1. Reconfiguring the national constellation Michael Zürn and Stephan Leibfried
Part II. The Modern Territorial State: Limits to Internationalization of the State's Resources: 2. The monopoly of legitimate force: denationalization, or business as usual? Markus Jachtenfuchs
3. Globalization and the transformation of the tax state Philipp Genschel
Part III. The Rule of Law: Internationalization and Privatization: 4. Is there an emerging international rule of law? Bernhard Zangl
5. Free trade: the erosion of national, and the birth of transnational governance Christian Joerges and Christine Godt
Part IV. The Democratic Nation State: Erosion, or Transformation, of Legitimacy: 6. Is there a legitimation crisis of the nation state? Achim Hurrelmann, Zuzana Krell-Laluhová, Roland Lhotta, Frank Nullmeier and Steffen Schneider
7. National and transnational public spheres: the case of the EU Bernhard Peters, Stefanie Sifft, Andreas Wimmel, Michael Brüggemann and Katharina Kleinen-von Königslöw
Part V. The Intervention State: The Shifting Welfare Component: 8. Welfare state transformation in small open economies Herbert Obinger, Stephan Leibfried, Claudia Bogedan, Edith Gindulis, Julia Moser and Peter Starke
9. The changing role of the state in healthcare systems Heinz Rothgang, Mirella Cacace, Simone Grimmeisen and Claus Wendt
Part VI. The TranState Research Centre
Index.

Subject Areas: International law [LB], Economics [KC], Politics & government [JP], Sociology & anthropology [JH]