These four conceptual and critical essays on state and society in contemporary China argue vigorously against the grain of prevailing scholarly interpretation.

Weak or failed states - where no government is in control - are the source of many of the world's most serious problems, from poverty, AIDS and drugs to terrori

An exploration of how states address the often conflicting challenges of development, order, and inclusion.

The question of how the American state defines its powernot what it is but what it "does"has become central to a range of historical discourses, from the foundi

Changes in welfare programmes since 1996 have transformed the way America cares for its poor. For every dollar spent on cash welfare payments, 20 dollars are sp