With only a few special exceptions, the entire surface of the world is divided between states. Yet it is not self-evident that comparative politics should focus on states as the main form of organised politics. After all, in the increasingly globalising world there are many other forms of organisation that have a big impact on politics and on daily existence in general. The European Union, Microsoft and al-Qa'ida are more powerful than many states and affect the lives of millions of people. If it is true that the European concept of the state is in decline, then why should we try to understand the state and its actions when newer political actors appear to be so important? This chapter starts with the question of why we continue to regard states as the most important building blocks of comparative analysis, when some writers claim that they are being replaced in importance in an increasingly global society.

The second problem is that even if we concentrate attention on states as a form of political organisation, there are a great many of them in the world and they come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. Some are as old as France or as new as East Timor and Montenegro; some are large like Canada and India or small like Estonia and Namibia; some are as rich as Sweden or as poor as Mali.