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Colonisation of the Lifeworld and the Dilemma of Welfare State Law

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Emancipation, Democracy and the Modern Critique of Law

Part of the book series: International Political Theory ((IPoT))

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Abstract

This chapter addresses Habermas’ analyses of law in The Theory of Communicative Action, in particular, the dilemmatic structure of welfare state law . Habermas discusses the dilemmatic structure of welfare state law as an example of the system colonisation of the lifeworld. Given the problems of the colonisation analysis, I suggest that there is a need for another way to address the dialectic of law. Taking my cue from Christoph Menke’s analysis of the modern legal form, I discuss how this may be possible and what kinds of reconsiderations of Habermas’ analysis this requires.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

    Mikael Spång

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  1. Mikael Spång
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Spång, M. (2018). Colonisation of the Lifeworld and the Dilemma of Welfare State Law. In: Emancipation, Democracy and the Modern Critique of Law. International Political Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62890-5_3

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