Democratic and Authoritarian Political Systems in 21st Century World Society

What seemed unthinkable after the end of the Cold War and the triumph of liberalism has become reality today: the democratic world society of the 21st century is threatened by illiberal and autocratic political models. The state is no longer an instrument of a dominating stratum trying to control society. It must include individuals, produce valued outputs, know the complexity of society, and accept or deny the autonomy of other specialized function-systems.
The authors analyze these political systems of a functionally differentiated world society and argue that they are completely novel because they incessantly adapt to the process of functional differentiation. To this end, they define structural core characteristics of modern policy, such as the political inclusion of everyone as a reaction to individualism; the complexity of polities arising from internal differentiation; and the increasing political decision-making handed to experts and autonomous organizations.

Anna Lisa Ahlers, born in 1982, leads the Lise-Meitner Research Group »China in the Global System of Science« at the Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. She was associate professor of China Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway, from 2014-2019.
Damien Krichewsky, born in 1982, is a research associate at the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (Bonn). After completing a dissertation at Sciences Po in Paris, he was granted a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Society in Cologne. He has carried out research on Corporate Social Responsibility in India, the use of green inance as a tool of environmental aid in Egypt, and the politics of environmental governance of the Ganges in India's democracy.
Evelyn Moser, born in 1982, studied political sciences and economics in Mainz and Moscow. She holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Lucerne and is currently a research associate at the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (Bonn). Her research interests include the sociology of political regimes, economic sociology, the sociology of organizations, and the analysis of societal change in the post-Soviet sphere.
Rudolf Stichweh, born in 1951, is a professor for the theory of modern society at the Universität Bonn, permanent visiting professor at the University of Lucerne and member of the Leopoldina and the North-Rhine-Westphalian Academy of the Sciences and Arts. His research interests include the history and sociology of human social systems, science and universities in modern society, as well as functional differentiation and world society.