Though the end of the Cold War signaled the victory of liberal democracy over competing forms of government, most notably Communism, this victory has given way not to the celebrations one might have expected, but to a period of change in which the nations of the world have been forced to rethink their strategies of development.

Disintegration or Transformation? looks at how the governments of eight of the world's most highly industrialized nations have responded to this challenge - the decisions they have made and continue to make in the face of this constantly changing international scene, and the subsequent reactions of the societies they govern. These national publics, unsatisfied with being simply among the "best," ask why their lives are not better, why their economies are not more competitive, and why their governments are not more responsive. The contributors analyze this problem by treating the state as a building block for advanced industrial society, emphasizing national state traditions and the distinction between national time and world time.

Disintegration or Transformation? is an important and timely collection of articles that will be essential reading for anyone interested in the development of states and their place in the world economy.