Examining the role of the modern nation state, Dexter Whitfield assesses the achievements, failures, costs and benefits of the neoliberal and third way transformation of the state. He demonstrates that private finance of infrastructure, marketisation of government and privatisation of the welfare state are accelerating the globalisation process and generating ever larger financial, social and environmental crises. Whitfield analyses current trends which are exacerbated by the marketisation and partnership agenda advocated by global bodies such as the World Bank, IMF and WTO. He reveals how these policies further reduce the capacity of the state in the global economy, its ability to provide good quality public services and inevitably create a corporate welfare complex. Within a framework for understanding the extent, scale and impact of the transformation of the state, the author forecasts the implications of the continuation of current policies.

Abbreviations List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Preface Introduction. The global corporate agenda 1. Reconfiguring the state-market-civil society paradigm 2. Nation states. facilitating and accommodating globalisation 3. Modernising the State. A Third Way for Competition 4. Modernising the State. New Organisation and New Management 5. The Emerging Corporate-Welfare Complex 6. The Price of Neo-Liberal Modernisation 7. The Nation State in 2020 8. Rethinking democratic governance and state capacity 9. Public Service Management for the Twenty-first Century 10. New alliances and strategies Appendix Bibliography Index