Governing Complex Societies

Western societies are becoming increasingly complex and challenging to govern, yet the modern state continues to play a central role in governance. This book presents a detailed analysis of the challenges confronting the contemporary state and the processes through which the state addresses those challenges. The notion of "governing without government" is critiqued; instead, Pierre and Peters argue that what is happening a more a matter of state transformation than state decline.

Jon Pierre is Professor of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. B. Guy Peters is Maurice Falk Professor of American Government at the University of Pittsburgh, Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Management at the Catholic University of Leuven, and Senior Fellow of the Canadian Centre for Management Development.