The state is one of the major institutions in modern industrial societies which have an enduring influence on societal development. Since the latter part of the 20th century developments have pointed to a far-reaching transformation of the modern nation state in the OECD world (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) which may be of long-term social and political significance. Nevertheless, attempts to describe and analyze this process and its causes and effects systematically and comprehensively are few and far between.

A systematical-empirical data collection of current transformation processes of modern statehood with the following questions are in the center of our research:

• Is the modern state subject to a generally observable or even uniform trend of change in the core countries of the OECD world in the second half of the last century?
• Where do the corresponding pressures for change come from?
• Do these processes of change have a transformative effect?