ABSTRACT
The issues raised in Part I were designed to serve as a prelude to the development of an integrated theory of the state-building process in the postCold War era. In a similar vein, this chapter helps to lay the foundation for the development of my theory by addressing a fundamental issue, which is central to the entire endeavor: in an era of globalization, when many scholars have questioned the continued relevance of the state as the central actor in world politics and others have gone even further to question whether the sovereign states system even has a future, why focus upon the state as the object of study and construct a theory of the state-building process?
