Originally published in 1984, Contradictions of the Welfare State is the first collection of Claus Offe's essays to appear in a single volume in English. The political writings in this volume are primarily concerned with the origins of the present difficulties of welfare capitalist states, and he indicates why in the present period, these states are no longer capable of fully managing the socio-political problems and conflicts generated by late capitalist societies. Offe discusses the viability of New Right, corporatist and democratic socialist proposals for restructuring the welfare state. He also offers fresh and penetrating insights into a range of other subjects, including social movements, political parties, law, social policy, and labour markets.

Originally published in 1984, Contradictions of the Welfare State is the first collection of Claus Offe's essays to appear in a single volume in English. The political writings in this volume are primarily concerned with the origins of the present difficulties of welfare capitalist states, and he indicates why in the present period, these states are no longer capable of fully managing the socio-political problems and conflicts generated by late capitalist societies. Offe discusses the viability of New Right, corporatist and democratic socialist proposals for restructuring the welfare state. He also offers fresh and penetrating insights into a range of other subjects, including social movements, political parties, law, social policy, and labour markets.

The authors of this book have developed a new and stimulating approach to the analysis of the transitions of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia to democracy and a market economy. They integrate interdisciplinary theoretical work with elaborate empirical data on some of the most challenging events of the twentieth century. Three groups of phenomena and their causal interconnection are explored: the material legacies, constraints, habits and cognitive frameworks inherited from the past; the erratic configuration of new actors, and new spaces for action; and a new institutional order under which agency is institutionalized and the sustainability of institutions is achieved. The book studies the interrelations of national identities, economic interests, and political institutions with the transformation process, concentrating on issues of constitution making, democratic infrastructure, the market economy, and social policy.

This book examines the problems and issues facing formerly communist states as they seek to develop a new democratic political order and a market economy. Studies of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia provide detailed empirical data concerning constitution making, the shaping of democratic institutions, marketization of the economy, and social policy. This new research is then linked to innovative theoretical material to offer a unique assessment of the difficulties of creating a new political order in the region.

Im funften Band der Ausgewahlten Schriften von Claus Offe geht es um soziologische Aspekte politischer Herrschaft in Gesellschaften mit kapitalistischer Wirtschaftsordnung. Dabei steht die Frage im Mittelpunkt, wie die Ausubung staatlicher Gewalt durch das Handeln von Gesetzgebern und Regierungen beide Gleichgewichtsbedingungen zugleich erfullen kann: die der Legitimitat politischer Herrschaft und die der Erhaltung und Foerderung einer profitgesteuerten OEkonomie. Genauer: Ob und ggf. aus welchen systematischen Grunden Staaten an dieser ihrer zweifachen Funktionsbestimmung scheitern und dann Symptome unzulanglicher Reformpolitik, misslingenden Krisenmanagements, sogar von manifester Unregierbarkeit und "Staatsversagen" aufweisen. Diese Fragen drangen sich heute gleichermassen auf der nationalstaatlichen wie auf der EU-Ebene auf und finden mit gangigen Verweisen auf "Governance" und "Nachhaltigkeit" nur unzulangliche Antworten. Der Inhalt * Staat, Kapitalismus, Legitimation * Regieren mit prekarer Staatskapazitat * Die europaische Integration und ihre Krisen Der Autor Dr. Claus Offe ist emeritierter Professor fur Politische Soziologie an der Humboldt-Universitat sowie an der Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.

Im ersten Band der "Ausgewahlten Schriften von Claus Offe" sind wichtige Arbeiten zu Arbeitsmarkt und Arbeitsgesellschaft sowie deren Zusammenhang mit der kapitalistischen Wirtschaftsordnung zusammengestellt. Die Studien sind uberwiegend in der zweiten Halfte der 1970er und in den 1980er Jahren entstanden, aber wohl auch heute von mehr als antiquarischem Interesse, weil die Kerninstitutionen kapitalistischer (Erwerbsarbeits-)Gesellschaften mit ihren Machtstrukturen, Verteilungsergebnissen und ihrer Konfliktdynamik zu wesentlichen Teilen unverandert geblieben sind. Unverandert oder sogar verstarkt sind wir mit Problemen der Arbeitsmarkt-Spaltung, der Prekaritat, des Niedriglohnsektors, der durch Stagnation, technischen Wandel und/oder "Globalisierung" bedingten Beschaftigungsrisiken, des UEbergangs von der "industriellen" in die "Dienstleistungsgesellschaft", dem Verhaltnis von Erwerbsarbeit und anderen Arten nutzenstiftender Tatigkeit sowie mit Motiven und politischen Moeglichkeiten konfrontiert, Lage und Dauer der Arbeitszeit neu zu gestalten.

Der Band verdeutlicht Umbruche der Transformationsphase in der politischen Theorie. In einigen Bereichen, etwa der Modernisierungs-, der Demokratietheorie oder der Theorie des Systemwechsels, ist der Einfluss konkreter Ereignisse wie der von 1989, betrachtlich. Das gilt auch fur neuere Entwicklungen der internationalen Politik. In anderen Bereichen, wie den Theorien des Feminismus, der neuen sozialen Bewegungen, der Theorien von citizenchip und Legitimationstheorien scheint der Zusammenhang schwacher zu sein, hier wirkte eher der Niedergang des Marxismus in den 80er Jahren als der Zusammenbruch des realen Sozialismus 1989 auf den Wandel der Theorien. Dennoch zeigen sich auch hier bedeutende Einflusse des Wandels zu post-sozialistischen Gesellschaften. Der Band ist eine umfassende Wurdigung aller Bereiche der Theorie - bis hin zu neuen Ansatzen wie rational choice und Chaostheorie.

Nutzenstiftende Tatigkeiten finden auch in modernen Gesellschaften keineswegs nur dort statt, wo erwerbswirtschaftlich gearbeitet und Geldeinkommen verdient wird. Zwischen Erwerbsarbeit und Haushalt hat sich eine Vielzahl von selbstorganisierten sozialen Netzen entwickelt, in denen ohne Bezahlung ein uberhaushaltlicher Tausch von Hilfe und Diensten stattfindet. In diesem Band wird ein Uberblick uber den Erkenntnisstand zur Eigenarbeit, Haushaltsproduktion und zu informellen Hilfen gegeben, ausserdem werden solche Netzwerke auf ihre sozialstrukturellen Voraussetzungen und ihre Leistungsfahigkeit hin uberpruft."

This interdisciplinary collection of essays by a constitutionalist and a political sociologist examines how fragmented societies can be held together by appropriate and effective constitutional arrangements providing for bonds of democratic citizenship. Exploring the political order dilemmas of capitalist democracies, the authors address moral and institutional prerequisites on which the deepening of European integration depends. The desirability of such deepening is currently contested, with the membership of some states (and their compliance with the spirit of the Union's treaties) at stake. The authors do not consider the `renationalisation' of Europe to be a feasible (and even less so a desirable) way out of Europe's current malaise. Yet whatever the way out, charting it calls not just for the vision and imagination of political elites but also for the intellectual efforts of social scientists. With this book, Preuss and Offe contribute to those efforts. Key Features: * original insights on the nature of the European crisis * analysis of how fragmented societies can be held together by appropriate constitutional arrangements * how state sovereignty and federal structures can be merged * account of the moral prerequisites and resources of democratic polities * dilemmas of political order under democratic capitalism

This interdisciplinary collection of essays by a constitutionalist and a political sociologist examines how fragmented societies can be held together by appropriate and effective constitutional arrangements providing for bonds of democratic citizenship. Exploring the political order dilemmas of capitalist democracies, the authors address moral and institutional prerequisites on which the deepening of European integration depends. The desirability of such deepening is currently contested, with the membership of some states (and their compliance with the spirit of the Union's treaties) at stake. The authors do not consider the 'renationalisation' of Europe to be a feasible (and even less so a desirable) way out of Europe's current malaise. Yet whatever the way out, charting it calls not just for the vision and imagination of political elites but also for the intellectual efforts of social scientists. With this book, Preuss and Offe contribute to those efforts. Key Features:* original insights on the nature of the European crisis* analysis of how fragmented societies can be held together by appropriate constitutional arrangements * how state sovereignty and federal structures can be merged* account of the moral prerequisites and resources of democratic polities* dilemmas of political order under democratic capitalism

Throughout the West, democracy is under fire. "Government is part of the problem, not the solution" is a common refrain. As the tasks of the state become more complex and the size of polities larger, the institutional forms of liberal democracy developed in the 19th century seem increasingly unable to cope. Rather than seeking to deepen the democratic character of politics, much energy in recent years has been directed as reducing the role of politics altogether. In Associations and Democracy, Joshua Cohen and Joel Rogers advance an innovative scheme for rejuvenating the democratic state. Their proposal involves the strengthening of secondary associations, organizations like unions, works councils, neighborhood associations, parent-teacher groups and women's societies. With enlivened secondary associations mediating between individual citizens and the state, active participation in the political process can be expanded and democracy enhanced. Such an approach raises a number of thorny issues: Can such associations retain their independence from government if they are pulled further into the political sphere? Will a shift from territorial to functional representation further fragment an already divided polity? In an array of original contributions, leading social scientists respond to Cohen and Rogers with questions like these; Cohen and Rogers, in turn, sum up the debate. The first of a series of polemics providing workable scenarios for a progressive future, Associations and Democracy is a lively and stimulating exploration of one of the central issues on today's political agenda.

This book is a methodologically self-conscious and intellectually ambitious effort to advance the social science debate on postcommunist transformation beyond the limitations of its first decade. Offering theoretically innovative and empirically current analyses of fundamental economic, cultural, and political problems of systemic change and reform in central and Eastern Europe, the authors broaden and deepen the research agenda by developing a set of interrelated approaches that are cross-disciplinary, sociologically informed, historically comparative, and global. The bookOs major substantive themes revolve around problems of postcommunist socioeconomic transformations. Specifically, the book explores postcommunist systemic change, the role of religion and collective identity, the significance of trust and economic culture, patterns of state-economy interactions in enterprise restructuring, the context of EU expansion, the strengths and weaknesses of economic theory and neoliberal doctrine, and the history of ideas in the postcommunist transformation debate. Bringing together leading experts in the field to illustrate the fruitfulness of multidisciplinary analysis in understanding socioeconomic transitions, this work will be valuable for economists, sociologists, and political scientists alike.

This book is a methodologically self-conscious and intellectually ambitious effort to advance the social science debate on postcommunist transformation beyond the limitations of its first decade. Offering theoretically innovative and empirically current analyses of fundamental economic, cultural, and political problems of systemic change and reform in central and Eastern Europe, the authors broaden and deepen the research agenda by developing a set of interrelated approaches that are cross-disciplinary, sociologically informed, historically comparative, and global. The book s major substantive themes revolve around problems of postcommunist socioeconomic transformations. Specifically, the book explores postcommunist systemic change, the role of religion and collective identity, the significance of trust and economic culture, patterns of state-economy interactions in enterprise restructuring, the context of EU expansion, the strengths and weaknesses of economic theory and neoliberal doctrine, and the history of ideas in the postcommunist transformation debate. Bringing together leading experts in the field to illustrate the fruitfulness of multidisciplinary analysis in understanding socioeconomic transitions, this work will be valuable for economists, sociologists, and political scientists alike."

Political authority in todayOs leading democracies rests on generally shared perceptions by a given people that their government is responsible to them and considers each individual citizen equal under the law. Yet since the dawn of the industrial age, democratic governments have presided over economies that function on the basis of an unequal distribution of real resources. As globalization opens these economies, the gap between legal, ideal and economic reality widens and boundaries separating Othe peopleO of different democracies erode. This thought-provoking book explores the consequent challenge posed for the inherent legitimacy of democratic systems. When distinctive bonds between political power and social obligation break down, that erosion creates Odemocratic deficits.O Pressures build to reconstitute political authority beyond the state, and governance-in-practice grows ever more distant from democracy-in-principle. Nowhere is the deepening dilemma more evident than in the European Union. This book examines the contemporary breakdown and transformation of the democratic welfare state in Europe and draws fascinating contrasts with North America. In a cohesive and insightful collection of essays, a group of distinguished political scientists debates the implications of these trends both for theory and for policy.