ABSTRACT
The sovereign state system has been the most enduring political institution of the modern era. Since the creation of sovereign states out of the hierarchical structure of political power and spiritual legitimacy that was Medieval Christendom, the civil society of the states and many of their other characteristics have changed substantially. The modern, post-Cold War civilised state has tended to reduce obstacles to trade such as tariffs and quotas on imports as part of the World Trade Organisation regime in such a way as the old system of nurturing infant industries though state protection is no longer viable. In many of the development states, in addition, more effective control of the national population and territory has also coincided with internationalisation. The economic management functions of the advanced states were progressively augmented after the decline of the liberal and minimalist state in England from the late nineteenth century onwards, until the revival of liberal economic thought in the 1980s.
