This is the first draft of the introductory chapter to a new book manuscript entitled Capitalism and Welfare: The Political Economy of Social Protection in Democratic Capitalism. It outlines a political economy approach to the study of the welfare state that emphasizes the interaction between production, skill formation, and social protection. One of the key ideas is that workers who have made ...

the last decade of the twentieth century saw the rise of a great number of regimes that cannot be easily classified as either authoritarian or democratic but display some characteristics of both—in short, they are semi-authoritarian regimes. They are ambiguous systems that combine rhetorical acceptance of liberal democracy, the existence of some formal democratic institutions, and respect for a...

With emerging markets like China and politically unstable countries like Saudi Arabia figuring more than ever into companies' investment calculations, business leaders are turning to political risk analysis to measure the impact of politics on potential markets, minimize risks, and make the most of global opportunities. But political risk is more subjective than its economic counterpart. It is ...

Human-induced climate change, with such rapid and continuing global-scale warming, is historically unprecedented and signifies that human pressures on Earth’s life-supporting natural systems now exceed the planet’s bio-geo-capacity. The risks from climate change to health and survival in populations are diverse, as are the social and political ramifications. Although attributing observed health...

human-induced climate change, with such rapid and continuing global-scale warming, is historically unprecedented and signifies that human pressures on earth’s life-supporting natural systems now exceed the planet’s bio-geo-capacity. the risks from climate change to health and survival in populations are diverse, as are the social and political ramifications. although attributing observed health...