This report is a pilot cross-country study that summarizes 10 years (1998-2008) of the World Bank's engagement at the state level in selected large federal countries and combines elements of a country assistance evaluation and a thematic review. It looks at several strategic and operational questions posed by state-level engagement, among them the selection of states, the scope, and the modalities of engagement. According to the report, two tendencies-often in tension-featured in most approaches for selection of states for direct engagement. One was to support better-performing, reformist stat