Attention to the social, economic, and political inclusiveness of the modern state* appears to have risen higher on the agenda of governments and international organizations. Mechanisms of social inclusion—for example, collaborative governance, co-production of knowledge--are seen as imperative to more just and fair policies in many, if not most, policy domains. This panel will examine the implications of the inclusive state agenda for public policy and governance concepts, theories, frameworks and methodologies. Panelists will address the following questions. How/does the concept of the inclusive state differ from other understandings of the state: for example, the service state, managerial state, or post-colonial state? Are there different understandings of what the inclusive state entails across countries, for example in the global south and the global north, in terms of the excluded social categories it seeks to include and the policy domains it gives priority to? How adequately do our existing policy process theories and governance concepts and frameworks explain the rise of the inclusive state and processes to advance its goals? What insights do theories of public policy and governance have for efforts to create an inclusive state? What is the likely future research agenda associated with attention to the inclusive state, including with respect to the features of effective and legitimate policy processes and outcomes, the ingredients of state capacity, and/or processes of collaborative governance? What are the implications of the inclusive state agenda for the methods scholars use to explain public policies and their outcomes? *Peters (2020) defines the inclusive state as “a system of governance that will involve larger portions of society in public life and include more of the public in the benefits created by the economic system, as well as deal with the problems of social exclusion and discrimination”.