"In a major study that moves between path-breaking theorizing and analysis that is relevant to today"s headlines, the author examines the process by which states expand and contract. . . . He develops a useful model of state expansion and contraction, focusing on how the issue of incorporating outlying territories is dealt with in the political arena. . . . While written before the recent Israeli-PLO agreement, this book has been made more, not less, timely by events that could only be guessed at when the author was writing this stimulating, often difficult, but ultimately very rewarding study."--Foreign Affairs