Welfare policies in the Global South: Representation, civil society and interest groups

The welfare regime literature can be regarded as ethnocentric. That is, studies on the causes and consequences of different welfare regime types mostly focus on OECD countries. Nonetheless, scholars increasingly examine the introduction /expansion of social policies and establishment of welfare regimes in Latin America, Asia and even in Africa. Many interesting questions can be considered in relation hereto: are traditional explanatory theories on welfare policy development useful in non-Western countries? Do countries need to be economically affluent and/or democratic to introduce welfare policies? What impact do political parties and trade unions have on the expansion of welfare policies in developing countries with entirely different political contexts? Can different types of welfare regimes explain high inequality in Latin America and traditionally low unemployment levels in Asia? Does it make sense to talk about welfare policy expansion in Africa? 

• Conceptualization of social policy and welfare regime typologies
• Causes to welfare policy development (I): politics & power resource approach
• Welfare policy development in Latin America, Asia and Africa
• Causes to welfare policy development (II): democracy and political competition
• Causes to welfare policy development (III): ethnicity and social divisions
• Causes to welfare policy development (IV): globalization
• Causes to welfare policy development (V): ideas and international organizations
• Consequences of social policy/welfare regimes for poverty and inequality

have knowledge about the following topics:

• concepts of social policy and welfare regimes
• central theories explaining welfare policy development in the Global South
• different consequences of social policies
• differences in welfare policy development across the regions of Latin America, Asia and Africa

• compare central theories, methods and approaches that analyse the causes and consequences of welfare policies and discuss their similarities/differences as well as strengths and weaknesses;
• apply theory and methodological approaches to analyse relevant research questions on new empirical content;
• critically assess the value of theories and methodological approaches in answering research questions related to understanding the development of welfare policies in the Global South;

• independently formulate a research question and write a synopsis that is relevant for the course’s focus on welfare policies in the Global South;
• give an oral presentation and discussion of topics relevant to the course.

• Haggard, Stephan & Robert R. Kaufman. Development, Democracy and Welfare States: Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe, Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press, latest edition

Scheduled classes

15 sessions of 2 x 45 minutes (2 or 3 of these sessions will be organized as peer-feedback sessions to discuss draft synopses).

Workload

Face-to-face lectures:     30 hours