ABSTRACTVarious aspects of the electronic structure of the group III nitrides are discussed. The relation between band structures and optical response in the vacuum ultraviolet is analyzed for zincblende and wurtzite GaN and for wurtzite A1N and compared with available experimental data obtained from reflectivity and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The spin-orbit and crystal field splittings of the valence band edges and their relations to exciton fine structure are discussed including substrate induced biaxial strain effects. The band-offsets between the III-nitrides and some relevant semiconductor substrates obtained within the dielectric midgap energy model are presented and strain effects which may alter these values are discussed. The importance of lattice mismatch in bandgap bowing is exemplified by comparing AlxGa1−xN and InxGa1−xN.