ABSTRACT
In the first section of this chapter - a much shortened version of a chapter published in 1999-Held summarises the development of modern ideas of the nation-state, the nation-state system and liberal democracy. He contrasts this with previously existing political arrangements in Europe and elsewhere. These possessed greater diversity within political communities, but greater homogeneity across them, although he recognises this was partly due to the limited geographical extent of politics prior to the expansion of the European empires between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.
