ABSTRACT
Even if the de-centring of the modern, functionally differentiated society undermines the primacy often ascribed to politics, this obviously does not make the political system unimportant. The ability to make collectively binding decisions and to enforce them legitimately with physical force clearly are central capacities which call for sociological analysis. In this chapter I shall therefore go into more detail with Luhmann’s conception of the political system. This will be executed in two steps. First, I will look into the internal differentiation of the political system that Luhmann describes. Next, I will explore his notion of politics in the welfare state. This includes a discussion of how Luhmann warns against certain trends in current political regulation which, he fears, lead to de-differentiation. Analysing these cautions will bring me back to the normative underpinnings of Luhmann’s theory which are examined at length in this chapter.
