WILLEM SCHINKEL is Assistant Professor of Theoretical Sociology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.ZYGMUNT BAUMAN is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds (UK) and the University of Warsaw, Poland.DENNIS BROEDERS is Researcher in the Department of Sociology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where he is working on his PhD on the development of internal surveillance on irregular migrants. He is also a research fellow at the Scientific Council for Government Policy, an independent think tank for the Dutch government.CRAIG CALHOUN is University Professor of the Social Sciences at New York University (USA) and President of the Social Science Research Council.GODFRIED ENGBERSEN is Professor of General Sociology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.RUDI LAERMANS is Professor of Sociology at the University of Leuven, Belgium.MIRKO NOORDEGRAAF is Professor of Public Management at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, Utrecht School of Governance (USG).LIESBETH NOORDEGRAAF-EELENS works at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Department of Econometrics. She is also affiliated with the Department of Philosophy.SASKIA SASSEN is Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, New York. She is also a Centennial Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics.ROMKE VAN DER VEEN is Professor of the Sociology of Labour and Organization at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.LOIC WACQUANT is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Researcher at the Centre de Sociologie Européenne, Paris.

This is a compelling collection of essays, marked by both breadth and depth as well as numerous insights and penetrating commentary. James N. Rosenau, The George Washington University, USA.

• Notes on the contributors Dignitas non moritur? The State of the State in an Age of Social Hypochondria; W. Schinkel The State and Globalization: Denationalized Participation and More Executive Powers; S. Sassen The Monitoring State and Financial Markets; M. Noordegraaf and L. Noordegraff-Eelens Framing the Sovereignty of 'The Democratic State' Sociologically: Reflections on the Political System, Contemporary Populism and Democracy; R. Laermans The Demons of an Open Society; Z. Bauman Add a Little Europe for Extra National Strength? The Europeanization of Justice and Home Affairs; D. Broeders Irregular Migration, Criminality, and the State; G. Engbersen The Transformation of the Welfare State: What is Left of Public Responsibility?; R. van der Veen The New Mission of the Penal State; L. Wacquant Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism; C. Calhoun Conclusion: Towards a Sociological Theory of the State?; W. Schinkel