• Preface; Part I. Rationale for the State's Expansion: 1. Public ownership and welfare; 2. An all-encompassing party-State; Part II. Methods of Remodelling the State: 3. Limiting the State's size and scope; 4. Restructuring the State's foundations; Part III. Comparisons within Broader Frameworks: 5. Options and outcomes in the industrial economies; 6. Options and outcomes in the transitional economies; Part IV. Outlook for the Twenty-First Century: 7. Contraction vs expansion of the scope of the State; Notes; Index.

"I know of no other work of scholarship that takes on this topic with such scope, magnitude, impartiality, and historical breadth. The author's approach is both theoretical and empirical, and the author presents a non-ideological and dispassionate analysis on a subject on which most people disagree. What is remarkable is Spulber's ability to carry major trends through the late 1990s - a feat that requires careful evaluation of current non-scholarly writings. Spulber's is one of the best explanations of events in transition Russia. I think this book will find its audience among economic historians, students of comparative economics, and general economists, historians, and political scientists." Paul Gregory, University of Houston