Dr. Stephen Maher received his Ph.D. from York University, and is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Ontario Tech University. Dr. Maher’s 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 “lobbying” 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 “financialization” to the heart of the post-war period – arguing that this is not a symptom of American decline, but has rather facilitated internationalization and diversification. Dr. Maher’s current research, including a forthcoming book, examines the role of state intervention since the 2008 crisis in the rise of giant asset management firms.