Medicine, Nursing and the State examines transformations in the relationships between the health professions and the state in an era of restructuring. Changes in professional autonomy and the gendered nature of profession-state relationships are highlighted. The essays locate the interrelationships of medicine, nursing and the state with regards to theories of the professions and to globalization. It is argued that the relationships shown cannot be properly understood outside of the processes of the rise of neo-liberalism and globalization.