Michael R. Krätke

Michael R. Krätke (1949) studied political science, economics and sociology at the Freie Universität Berlin, Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Université Paris I (Sorbonne). He received his PhD at the Freie Universität Berlin in 1981 and has taught at the Universities of Berlin, Bielefeld, New York (New School for Social Research), Copenhagen, Lund, Aix-en Provence/Marseille, California (Berkeley and San José), Krakow, Massachusetts (Amherst). Since 1988, he is Associate Professor of Political Economy and Political Science at the University of Amsterdam, since 1993 and 1999 he is also affiliated as professor of political science and political economy to the universities of Berlin and Kassel.

His research has been focused on the interdisciplinary field of political economy, including comparative and international political economy. He has published several books and many journal articles and book chapters (in German, Danish, Dutch, English, French, Italian) on various topics of political economy, from the theory of crisis and structural change to the intricacies and technicalities of tax and social insurance reform. In recent years, he has been one of the coordinating editors and main contributors to the Historisch-Kritisches Wörterbuch des Marxismus (14 vols., Berlin - New York, 1994 e.s.). Frequently, he has participated in international research projects on behalf of the EU, dealing with environmental policies and social policies in different member countries. Actually, he is participating in a European research group studying societal change and ruptures in West-European welfare states after 1989.