SASE AnnualMeeting 2013,University of Milan, Italy: States in Europe: uncaging societies and the limits to the infrastructural power

Patrick Le Galès (1)

1 CEE - Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée (Sciences Po, CNRS)

For more than a century now, states have intervened strongly to alleviate the social and economic consequences of crises in capitalism.New models of regulation, such as Keynesianism, have been invented to deal with capitalist contradictions: to socialize the huge losses booked by banks and large firms, change policy instruments,correct market failures, support regions in decline, transform labor market regulations or createnew markets whilst supporting creative destruction. Crises inspire us to think in new ways about periods and varieties of capitalism, about regulation crises and dynamics and about the role, functions and characteristics of the state. At the same time, crises are a great source of tension, pushing political debates to the extreme, sparking waves of protest, and generating political pressures or antidemocratic trends that call into question the very legitimacy of the state.

Mots clés: Regulation; Financial crisis; Capitalism; Regulation

Domaines: Sociologie; Science politique

Patrick Le Galès. SASE AnnualMeeting 2013,University of Milan, Italy: States in Europe: uncaging societies and the limits to the infrastructural power. Socio-Economic Review, 2014, 12 (1), pp.131-152. ⟨10.1093/ser/mwt022⟩. ⟨hal-02100013⟩