CES: Seminar on the State and Capitalism since 1800 — Lessons from the First Globalization 1870-1914

Date: 

Friday, November 17, 2017, 4:15pm to 6:00pm

Location: 

Adolphus Busch Hall, Hoffmann Room, Cambridge, MA

** Please note: Those planning to attend events in this series should read the paper that will be posted on the CES website before the seminar.**

 

SPEAKER

Suzanne Berger
Raphael Dorman-Helen Starbuck Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Faculty Associate, CES, Harvard University

 

DISCUSSANT

Patrice Higonnet
Robert Walton Goelet Research Professor of French History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty, CES, Harvard University

 

 

About

We will discuss a paper that investigates the impact of electoral competition on the willingness of political parties to recalibrate a key feature of the welfare state, namely, public pension programs. As electoral competition becomes more intense, parties of the center-left and center-right cultivate particular constituencies which drive their politics in different directions.