Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The Emergence of the Modern State; 2. Liberalism: The Pluralist State; 3. Elite Theories: The State and the Power Elite; 4. Marxism: The State as a Real Illusion; 5. Socialism: The Social Democratic State; 6. Anarchism: The Politics of Anti-Statism; 7. Conservatism: Authority in the Modern State; 8. Fascism: Overcoming the Modern State; 9. Feminisms: The Gendering of the State; 10. The New Right: The Minimal State; 11. Fundamentalism: The Godly State; 12. Futures: Theorising the Nation State in a 'Global Age'.

About the Author

Erika Cudworth is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of East London. She is author of Environment and Society (2003) and Developing Ecofeminist Theory (forthcoming). Timothy Hall and John McGovern are Lecturers in Politics at the University of East London.

Reviews

This book enables students to examine the contemporary state, its history and development, through a very wide variety of theories and ideologies, ranging from liberalism to feminism to fundamentalism. It takes a genuinely global perspective and concludes with a useful discussion of the relationship between the state and a variety of globalization theories. -- Terrell Carver, Professor of Political Theory, University of Bristol The strength of the book is that it contains not only classical democratic and liberal ideologies but also non-democratic and non-liberal ones such as facism and fundamentalism. -- Hasan Engin Sener, Akdeniz University, Turkey Political Studies Review This book enables students to examine the contemporary state, its history and development, through a very wide variety of theories and ideologies, ranging from liberalism to feminism to fundamentalism. It takes a genuinely global perspective and concludes with a useful discussion of the relationship between the state and a variety of globalization theories. The strength of the book is that it contains not only classical democratic and liberal ideologies but also non-democratic and non-liberal ones such as facism and fundamentalism.