title: The state is a multi-system: understanding the oneness and diversity of government
abstract: The contemporary state has been the focus of considerable controversy – about whether it exists and has ontological status (or not); about how it may be delineated; and about the sense in which it operates as a unity or some form of integrated agency in relation to civil society, and viz a viz other states. I argue that the modern state in liberal democratic societies can be understood as a multi-system - the complex amalgam of ten different forms of state, which are held together or integrated 
journal: London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science)