Book excerpt: This final volume in Manuel Castells' trilogy, with a substantial new preface, is devoted to processes of global social change induced by the transition from the old industrial society to the emerging global network society. Explains why China, rather than Japan, is the economic and political actor that is revolutionizing the global system Reflects on the contradictions of European unification, proposing the concept of the network state Substantial new preface assesses the validity of the theoretical construction presented in the conclusion of the trilogy, proposing some conceptual modifications in light of the observed experience