Throughout Western Europe, it is alleged, ‘the state is in retreat’. This volume explores some of the pressures leading to state retreat programmes as well as the nature of those programmes. Focusing exclusively on the functional, rather than the territorial, level it reveals that the reshaping of the state in Western Europe involves different policies across Europe and conflicting tendencies in the impact of the various reform programmes. Whilst the state may be in retreat in some respects, its activity may be increasing in others. And nowhere, not even in Britain, has its key decision‐making role been seriously undermined.