This book provides students with a fresh overview of the main theories of the state found in International Relations. The book surveys realist, liberal, Marxist, constructivist, postmodern, postmodern feminist and neo-Weberian approaches to the state, and places each perspective's view of the state in relation to its theory of IR as a whole. It offers readers a unique introduction to state theory in International Relations in particular, and theories of IR more generally, and will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology and politics, as well as International Relations