In this collection of twelve essays Philip Resnick provides a comparative perspective on the modern state, arguing that the power of the state, like the mythological god Proteus, takes many different forms and cannot be revealed by any single discipline. He delves into political theory, political economy, and political sociology, as well as examining a number of isms important to any treatment of the modern state.

Philip Resnick began writing poetry in Montreal, stopping for a time when he embarked on an academic career at the University of British Columbia. His marriage to Andromache (Mahie), who was Greek, resulted in numerous stays in Thessaly, in the city of Volos, and in a village on adjacent Mount Pelion. These stays rekindled his poetic inspiration and resulted in the publication of a number of collections in the late 1970s and 1980s. Philip has continued to write ever since and has published numerous poems in magazines and journals, as well as a 2015 collection Footsteps of the Past and 2018 collection Passageways. As a political scientist at the University of British Columbia for over forty years until his retirement in 2013, Philip has published widely on political topics. He makes his home in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Philip Resnick's profile page

"An invigorating series of challenges to conventional thinking (on all sides of the political spectrum). With this book, Resnick confirms his Socratic role as intellectual gadfly to the sacred cattle of Canadian politics." Reg Whitaker, Canadian Journal of Political Science "Very readable and thought-provoking ... Resnick has intelligently synthesized and distilled from a clear and consistent critical radical liberal (popular participatory) perspective insights on the ever-changing character of the state derived from a wide variety of sources ranging from political theory and political sociology to social democratic theory and praxis in Canada." Martin Lubin, American Political Science Review "Despite the breadth and maturity of Resnick's scholarly knowledge of the subject, he intends not to develop a grandiose theory of the state, but to raise certain subjects for discussion in order to advance the reader's understanding of and reflections on the state. His objective is admirably realized. In examining a specific facet of the state, each essay presents a comprehensive synthesis and an incisive evaluation of theories from across the ideological spectrum; and each introduces fresh theoretical insights. As a result, each essay is likely to stir considerable debate among observers and theorists of the state - debate from which a wide variety of disciplines are likely to profit." A.F. Johnson, Choice