Jean L. Cohen
Encyclopedia
Jean L. Cohen is Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. She specializes in contemporary political and legal theory with particular research interests in democratic theory, critical theory
, Civil society
, gender and the law. She received her PhD in 1979 from the New School for Social Research. She served as Assistant Professor of Social Science at Bennington College from 1980-1983 and as Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley (1984) before coming to Columbia. Cohen is also Associate Editor of the journals Constellations and Dissent. Her current project concerns rethinking state and popular sovereignty in the epoch of globalization. Jean L. Cohen serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Council's journal, Ethics & International Affairs. Civil Society and Political Theory, co-authored with Andrew Arato
, is viewed by many as a seminal text on contemporary civil society.
Research Interests: Sovereignty
, International Law
, Global justice
, Governance
, Contemporary Political Theory, Continental Political Theory, Germany
, France
, American Legal Theory, Feminist Theory
, Civil Society
, Privacy
, Gender
and Sexuality
, Social Movements, Rights
.
Critical theory
Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...
, Civil society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
, gender and the law. She received her PhD in 1979 from the New School for Social Research. She served as Assistant Professor of Social Science at Bennington College from 1980-1983 and as Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley (1984) before coming to Columbia. Cohen is also Associate Editor of the journals Constellations and Dissent. Her current project concerns rethinking state and popular sovereignty in the epoch of globalization. Jean L. Cohen serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Council's journal, Ethics & International Affairs. Civil Society and Political Theory, co-authored with Andrew Arato
Andrew Arato
Andrew Arato is Dorothy Hart Hirshon Professor of Political and Social Theory in the department of sociology at The New School University. Born in 1944, he received his PhD in history from the University of Chicago. He is best known for his influential book Civil Society and Political Theory,...
, is viewed by many as a seminal text on contemporary civil society.
Research Interests: Sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
, International Law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
, Global justice
Global justice
Global justice is an issue in political philosophy arising from the concern that the world at large is unjust.-Context:The broader philosophical context of the global justice debate, in both its contemporary and historical forms, is the issue of impartiality...
, Governance
Governance
Governance is the act of governing. It relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. It consists of either a separate process or part of management or leadership processes...
, Contemporary Political Theory, Continental Political Theory, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, American Legal Theory, Feminist Theory
Feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality...
, Civil Society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
, Privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
, Gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
and Sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
, Social Movements, Rights
Rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
.
Articles and Chapters
- Whose Sovereignty? Empire Versus International Law
- Changing Paradigms of Citizenship and the Exclusiveness of the Demos
- Does voluntary association make democracy work
- “Max Weber and the Dynamics of Rationalized Domination.” Telos 14 (Winter 1972). New York: Telos Press.
- “Civil Society and Globalization: Rethinking the Categories," in Diversity and its discontents by Neil J. Smelser, Jeffrey C. Alexander