âBeautifully written, this book engages thoughtfully with current issues within a solid understanding of their historical background. It covers a hugely impressive range of topics, developing an innovative mobilisation of Eliasâs sociological perspective that will underpin a wide variety of new research efforts. In a world becoming increasingly interdependent and complex, this book provides an essential guide to developing the kind of understanding of the world in which we live required for a genuinely democratic politics.â --Robert van Krieken, Emeritus Professor, The University of Sydney, Australia âOver thirty years ago Norbert Elias emphasised that rising levels of human interconnectedness had increased the subjection of individuals to global processes over which they had little or no control. Citing his comment, the editors of this excellent volume stress the continuing validity of that observation in the present era. They have brought together a stellar cast of international scholars to reconsider and extend Elias's analysis of the social and political integration of human societies.