Stein Ringen
Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford
Stein Ringen is emeritus Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. He was Professor of Welfare Studies at the University of Stockholm and has held visiting professorships and fellowships in Paris, Berlin, Prague, Brno, Barbados, Jerusalem, Sydney and at Harvard University. He has been Assistant Director General in the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, a consultant to the United Nations, and a news and feature reporter with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. His books include What Democracy Is For (Princeton 2007, Chinese version published by Xinhua in 2012), The Korean State and Social Policy (co-authored, Oxford 2011) and The Possibility of Politics (Oxford 1987 and Transaction 2006). A new book, Nation of Devils: Democracy and the Problem of Obedience, is published by Yale University Press in 2013. He is a visiting professor at Richmond, the American International University in London and Adjunct Professor at Lillehammer University.