uries, States first sponsored major communication systems, then mass education systems. Both contributed to the consolidation of a series of civil societies partly bounded by the territories of states. Next, states organized health systems, followed by the first stirrings of modern welfare systems. The national integration of the United States lagged behind that of most European countries, since it went through a Civil War, was a large continent, and had a rather weak Federal government during this period. Massive twentieth-century wars then expanded nationalism further and encouraged a deepening of economic planning and a widening of national welfare systems. The widening of political citizenship and the emergence of social citizenship occupied a period centered on the early twentieth century. This is when the first true nation-states, mostly in Europe, were born. Others emerged more recently, especially in a sudden great wave affecting all continents after 1945. To date, even the oldest have enjoyed only a normal human life span; most are much younger, and many are still struggling to be born.
In the last twenty years, we have seen neoliberal and transnational reversals of some nation-state powers. Yet some of its other powers are still growing. Over this same recent period, states have increasingly regulated the intimate private spheres of the life cycle and the family. State regulation of relations between men and women, family violence, the care of children, abortion, and personal habits that used to be considered private, such as smoking, is still growing. State policies for consumer protection and the environment continue to proliferate, and feminists and "green" activists demand still more state intervention. Through the twentieth century, central government has also been increasing far more than local government. Apart from a few "subnations"--the Catalonias and Quebecs--local and regional barriers have declined inside the...