Summary

The state and its institutions have been changing, but they remain viable actors in making and implementing policy, and in governance taken more generally. Indeed, the state to a great extent retains its central position in selecting and legitimating policy goals, although it may do so in a more co-operative and less intrusive manner than in the past. The international environment can impact the range of possible actions for states, although certainly some more that others, and governments are increasingly involved with social partners in the selection and execution of laws, but the formal institutions do retain substantial importance. Indeed, in many ways the most remarkable feature of contemporary governance is not so much what has changed but what has remained the same.