K2SP 3120 - Comparing Welfare States, their reforms and futures

This course will present how different welfare states are organized, developed and reformed. It will explain and discuss several typologies, approaches and methodological debates in the field of cross-national comparison of welfare systems. It will start by explaining the origins of the welfare states in various regions, and then will analyze their development. It will then present the various challenges that national welfare states are confronted with, such as demographic ageing, the entry of women into the labour market, globalisation, the end of industrialism, the rise of information and communication technology and the digitalisation of the economy, climate change. It will analyse welfare states’ differing capacities to reforms and adapt to these new economic and social contexts of the 21st Century. Perspectives on new models of welfare will also be presented and discussed.

No requirement

Courses will start with a collective discussion of the text(s) and video(s) associated to the session. On the base of the discussion, the teacher will then develop the main points of the session, presenting the main results of recent research on the analyzed topic.

The midterm exam will consist in questions on the class content (30%). There will be a Final policy paper proposing a social policy reform on a domain and countries chosen by the students (70%).

Before each session of the course, students are required to read the assigned text(s) and watch dedicated videos (accessible on moodle) and prepare a question given to students in advance.