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Giancarlo Poggi is Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia."It is an excellent time for the appearance of such a book. On the one hand, the collapse of the Soviet Empire suggests that at least some of the rival models to the Liberal Democratic State have been tested to destruction. On the other hand, the development of transnational orders, such as the European Community, may in turn suggest that the old state has had its day and that perhaps more diffuse forms of political organization of social power will in due course emerge. However that may be, Poggi's book is a brilliant commentary on and analysis of the state of affairs of which we are inheritors. How far it will point the way to further developments remains to be seen." -Neil MacCormick ,University of Edinburgh
Poggi presents an extensive conceptual portrait of the state, distinguishing its early characteristics from those that have developed subsequently and are apparent in contemporary states. He reviews the "historical career" of the state, from the dissolution of feudal forms of rule to the advent of modern, liberal-democratic systems.
Poggi also discusses the most significant developments occurring in our times concerning the nature of liberal-democratic regimes: these developments emphasize the growth and diversification of state action, and the resulting disconnection between policy and politics. Poggi considers the distinctive features of one=party systems, and discusses why these systems encountered difficulties in promoting advanced industrial development. The final chapter discusses the challenges set to the state by contemporary developments in military affairs, in the international economy and in the ecological sphere.
This book further develops themes introduced in Poggi's highly successful The Development of the Modern State (1978). It will be required reading for students of politics and sociology, but will also be of interest to postgraduates.