本文分析第一波到第三波歷史社會學對於國家與國家職能的論述，檢視全球化與民主化中的國家機關，是否從「現代性」的型態轉型為「後現代性」國家？在上述衝擊下，國家職能的內涵是否有實質的變遷？本文認為，受到後現代主義的影響，歷史社會學所討論的國家範疇與國家職能確實在內涵上有所轉變。然而，治理國家所面對的時空情境較之以往更趨複雜，國家職能反而是更為擴充。

This paper aims to interrogate the state and state capacity issues in threewaves of historical sociology and it particularly concerns with how the statetransforms in globalization and democratization. As a discipline intimatelyentwined with modernity, this paper also explores how postmodernity castsimpact on state transformation in a complicated environment. It argues statecapacity should be expanded more flexibly, however not a static and transformed one.