From Government to Governance — to ‘State Failure’
Channel: Havens Wright Center for Social Justice
Date: 2022-09-24

A lecture by Claus Offe discussing the structural features of the nation state and its functions, theorizations of modes of power, and the processes that have undermined state power, such as financialization and changes to the state and governance in the era of neoliberal globalization.

Arguing against Max Weber, Offe contends that two functions are common to all states: the maintenance of order and protection, and the promotion of development in a variety of forms. He provides an analytical framework for studying the state, focusing on the forces impacting state power, and the variety of state responses to these challenges.

This event was co-sponsored by the Center for German and European Studies, the University Lectures Committee, and Global Studies at UW-Madison. 

Claus Offe is one of the world’s leading political sociologists. A prominent representative of the tradition of critical theory, he is the author of numerous path-breaking essays and books in democratic and social theory, economic development, political sociology, public policy and European Studies. In addition, he has made significant contributions to understanding the relationship between democracy and capitalism. His recent work has focused on economies and states in transition to democracy. Important publications include Contradictions of the Welfare State (MIT Press 1984), Disorganised Capitalism (Polity Press 1985), Varieties of Transition: The East European and East German Experience (The MIT Press 1996), Modernity and the State (Polity Press 1996) and Reflections on America: Tocqueville, Weber and Adorno in the United States (Cambridge University Press 2005).