Machine generated contents note: 1. The difficulties of state building; 2. The social foundations of state building in the contemporary era; 3. State formation in Chile and Peru: institution building and atrophy in unlikely settings; 4. State formation in Argentina and Uruguay: agrarian capitalism, elite conflict, and the construction of cooperation; 5. Divergence reinforced: the timing of political inclusion and state strength in Chile and Peru; 6. The social question and the state: mass mobilization, suffrage, and institutional development in Argentina and Uruguay; 7. Conclusions, implications, and extensions: social foundations, Germany/Prussia, and the limits of contemporary state building; Bibliography.