Dr. Stephen Maher
Assistant Professor of Economic, SUNY Cortland
Dr. Stephen Maher received his Ph.D. from York University, and is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Ontario Tech University. Dr. Maher鈥檚 research focuses on the relationship between state and corporate power in the American and international contexts. His first book, Corporate Capitalism and the Integral State: General Electric and a Century of American Power, draws on extensive archival research to challenge the idea that the political power of business is a result of corporate 鈥渓obbying鈥 of a passive state. Instead, Dr. Maher shows that the state plays an essential, active role in organizing fractious business interests into the power of a capitalist class. Moreover, he illustrates how the state has been central to the development of corporate organization, and traces the roots of 鈥渇inancialization鈥 to the heart of the post-war period 鈥 arguing that this is not a symptom of American decline, but has rather facilitated internationalization and diversification. Dr. Maher鈥檚 current research, including a forthcoming book, examines the role of state intervention since the 2008 crisis in the rise of giant asset management firms.