This volume brings together views on the nexus and the conflicts between transformation of states and societies and transnationalization processes in politics, economy, and culture. Thematic articles and case studies deal with conditioned nations/states in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. These nations/states are, on the one hand, subjected to transnational institutions, models, and forces and cannot fall back on the model of the classic nation state. On the other hand, the issues traditionally linked to the nation state as a polity – sovereignty, national economy, and identity – are still salient, as they serve to describe and evaluate the consequences of transnationalization. The volume addresses those processes as imminently political ones and poses the question of a transnational polity.

The Editors: Andreas Langenohl is Assistant Professor at the Sociology Department of the University of Gießen. His lectures and publications cover sociological theory, collective memory, political culture, and the sociology of the financial markets. Kirsten Westphal is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Gießen. Her lectures and research cover transformation processes in Russia and Latin America, EU external relations, and international energy policy.