What is the actual condition of the state in Latin America? Each contributor to this volume has been invited to answer this question by writing an interpretative essay from a specifically suggested angle: the origins of the state; government and society; economic growth; society and economy; nation-building; the indigenous population; political culture; international relations etc. It was the contributors’ decision which particular states to focus on in order to best illuminate the issues involved. Our main focus in the volume is on outlining some of the processes concerning the state now, two hundred years since the first declarations of independence. Along the way, we tackle both theoretical and normative issues. All the contributors to this volume share a long-cultivated multidisciplinary research interest in Latin America but the volume also reflects our disagreement on what we take the state to be as well as on the prevailing situation in Latin America. Each chapter reflects the views of its author all the way down to his choice of British or American English. As a result all chapters reflect the authors’ views on the contemporary state of the State in Latin America, as well as – why not say it – the authors’ identities. The book is aimed primarily at academics and students of the humanities and social sciences.