Saskia Sassen is professor of sociology at Columbia University, New York,  and at the London School of Economics. Her books include Losing Control? Sovereignty in the Age of Globalization (Columbia University Press, 1996) and The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo (Princeton University Press, 2001). Her latest book is Territory, Authority, and Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages (Princeton University Press, 2006), based on a five-year project on governance and accountability in a global economy.

Recent articles

Between national and global levels, a fresh landscape of territory, authority and rights is being opened. It may look messy, but it is part of a new reality in the making, says Saskia Sassen.

Pakistan's arc of protest leaves its most historic and political city unmoved, finds Saskia Sassen.

The forces of globalisation and neo-liberalism are changing the power-relations within democratic states, says Saskia Sassen of Columbia University. This makes British prime minister Gordon Brown’s new proposals to transfer powers to the legislature a landmark moment.

In the United States and Europe alike, immigration policy isn't working – and the failure is most evident at the crossing-points of the rich and poor worlds, from the Mexican border to the Canary Islands, says Saskia Sassen.

Francis Fukuyama's vision falls short of recognising how the deficits in liberal democracy are being generated from within, says Saskia Sassen.