Political Theory in the Welfare State

Hornosty, Jennie; Luhmann, Niklas; Bednarz, John

doi:10.2307/3341383

Cited by 30 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The limited duration of the mandates of these parliamentary representatives, and the concomitant setting-up of an opposition, organise the weakening of power: every member of the party in power risks being relegated to the opposition in the next elections. The institutionalisation of the opposition, which Luhmann regards as 'one of the greatest achievements of modern societal development' (Bednarz, 1990) implies that those in power at a given moment are always liable not to be so Luhmann (1990).…”

Section: The Political Cycle According To Luhmannmentioning

confidence: 99%

Informality as a resource: A systems-theoretical take on the open method of coordination in education

Gain

2023

European Educational Research Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Several authors have underlined that processes of Europeanisation of education emerge despite the European Union’s lack of formal power in this area. This article argues on the contrary that its lack of power precisely enables the EU to open up a range of possibilities for its involvement in this sector, among which the ET2020 Working Groups (WG) of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). Based on observations of WG meetings and interviews with key actors, and using Niklas Luhmann’s systems-theory, we aim to show how the distance separating the ET2020 WG from the formal circuits of European decision-making acts as a resource for the development of a European discourse on education. Alongside the ordinary legislative procedure based on voting and implementing collectively binding decisions, the alternative political circuit of the OMC is based on the irritation of a set of education sector stakeholders through the creation and dissemination of reports of ‘good practices’. In doing so, the ET2020 Working Groups illustrate how politics transforms itself and redefines its boundaries when it is structured at the European level rather than at the level of the nation-state.

show abstract

Section: The Political Cycle According To Luhmannmentioning

confidence: 99%

Informality as a resource: A systems-theoretical take on the open method of coordination in education

Gain

2023

European Educational Research Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Still, the same flow can take on various speeds at different moments in time. Acceleration and deceleration or intensification and deintensification, along with inflation and deflation (Luhmann, 1990) are therefore basic features of metric forms as social phenomena. However, all forms coexist in the same medium -the population of human beings-and thus even though flows do not translate the will or desires of social actors, there is nonetheless the possibility for one flow to impact another due to the fact that they share the same milieu.…”

Section: Metric and Nonmetricmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social structures, social change and the metric/nonmetric distinction

Guy

2022

Can J Adm Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines how the concepts of social structure and social change are interpreted in sociological theory today. Social structures are commonly defined in opposition with agency and accordingly as constraints on action. Concomitantly, social change is understood as emancipation or the removal of such constraint through the exercise of agency (and for it). Against this common understanding, the paper develops an alternative approach so as first to articulate a more sophisticated model of social change, one that does not boil to an over‐dramatic opposition between constraint and release from constraint, and second to distinguish between different types of social structures, metric and nonmetric, thereby making room for a variety of social changes depending on how structures interact with other structures.

show abstract

“…According to common interpretations of social systems theory, the state is ‘the self‐description of the political system’ (Luhmann, 1990, p. 122; Thyssen, 2007, p. 86; Willke, 1986, p. 461). Yet ‘reservations apply when it comes to the question of whether the self‐description of the political system as “state” has any future prospects’ (Luhmann, 2000, p. 252f, transl .…”

Section: The State Of Social Systems Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a theory of multifunctional liberalism: Systems‐theoretical reflections on the nature of statehood

Roth

Valentinov

2022

Syst Res Behav Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As neoliberalism is sinking into disrepute, states are responding to current crises by inroads on basic rights. This constellation adds urgency to the timeworn subject of statehood and its relationship to law and liberty. The paper addresses this subject by enhancing the neoliberal concept of an encased economy with James Coleman's concept of law as indicator of social change and Niklas Luhmann's functional differentiation. The resulting multifunctional liberalism associates liberties and rights with the autonomy of function systems—such as politics, economy or law—and envisions an ecosystem of multifunctional organizations able to navigate the full spectrum of functional differentiation.

show abstract

Political Theory in the Welfare State

Cited by 30 publications

References 0 publications

Informality as a resource: A systems-theoretical take on the open method of coordination in education

Informality as a resource: A systems-theoretical take on the open method of coordination in education

Social structures, social change and the metric/nonmetric distinction

Toward a theory of multifunctional liberalism: Systems‐theoretical reflections on the nature of statehood

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About