Prologue : into the wild -- Introduction : impermanence -- People matter -- The circle of life -- Good billionaires, bad billionaires -- Perils of the state -- The geographic sweet spot -- Factories first -- The price of onions -- Cheap is good -- The kiss of debt -- The hype watch -- The good,...

"The fundamental question of political theory, one which precedes all other questions about the nature of political life, is why there is a state at all. Is human cooperation feasible without a political authority enforcing it? Or do we need a state to live together? This question also reveals...

One of the most important issues in comparative politics is the relationship between the state and society and the implications of different relationships for long-term social and economic development. Exploring the contribution states can make to overcoming collective action problems and...

Introduction : social coalitions between equilibria and crises / Hideko Magara -- The emergence of an anti-bourgeois bloc in France / Bruno Amable & Stefano Palombarini -- Abenomics and Japanese politics / Masanobu Ido -- Who turned their back on the SPD? : electoral disaffection with the German...

Standard theoretical arguments suggest that republics ought to grow faster than monarchies and experience lower transitional costs following reforms. We employ a panel of 27 countries observed from 1820-2000 to explore whether regime types and institutional reforms have differential growth...