Global Social Policy and Comparative Welfare States

Module Code

SSU33702

Module Name

Global Social Policy and Comparative Welfare States

ECTS Weighting

 10 ECTS

Semester taught

Full Year

Module Coordinator/s  

Prof. Kasia Wodniak

Course Outline

This course will examine the issues of social policy from global as well as historical perspectives. It will also look at the welfare states, comparing welfare solutions, tools and policies across different times and places. Rather than trying to take a snapshot of certain “regimes”, this course will compare various systems to create a “library of solutions” from which one could “mix and match” depending on the specific social issues and contexts. Searching for solutions is crucial in the times when we face global challenges of unprecedented scale, especially climate change and rising inequalities.

We will start with a diagnosis of the most pressing issues, their causes and the influence of some outdated but still powerful discourses. We will examine the connection between political ideas and the dominant economic model, the power dynamics among global actors and their consequences. Case studies of sporting mega-events and fashion industries will serve as some of the illustrations for these issues. We will then move on to the promise of polycentricity as an approach to the social policy where various actors, e.g. central government, local government, local communities and NGOs are loosely connected and manage social issues at different levels in a coordinated or uncoordinated way. The resulting system is complex but not chaotic with local communities playing a special role. Cooperativism and direct democracy in both political and economic contexts will also be examined. In the last two weeks, we will focus on specific solutions to the challenges that we have discussed. We will examine policies from the past but also look into the future.

One of the main aims of this course is to go beyond the usual boundaries of our imagination and what we take for granted when we think about solutions to social issues. We will attempt to rethink social policies, break down the main discourses and redefine what is feasible.

Learning outcomes

After taking this course students should be able to: 

1. Think analytically and critically about the issues of social policy and the welfare state across different countries and historical periods 
2. Recognise the relationship of social policies and the welfare state with the economy, society and politics of the given period
3. Recognise the importance of social policies, redistribution and the welfare state for addressing the main challenges of our time, especially inequality and climate change
4. Critically assess academic and policy readings

Teaching and learning methods

There is one lecture and one tutorial per week. Lectures are scheduled for Friday and the corresponding seminars will be held on Monday the following week. Lectures are based on the materials listed under each week’s topic. These include book chapters, journal articles, policy documents, documentary films and media content, and they are required. There are separate materials listed for each seminar. In the first semester, students will fill in an online survey or write either a critique of 300 words of the dedicated material (instructions will be provided week-by-week) which we will then discuss in the class. In the second semester, the seminar discussions and exercises will be based on students’ presentations. Attendance at the seminars is required.

Assessment Details

First semester

1. Essay- 40%
2. Seminar participation (300-word critiques of assigned readings/answering online surveys) - 10%

Second semester

1. Group project - 40%
2. Seminar group presentations - 10%

Reassessment Requirements

First semester

1. Multiple choice test and three open questions (500 words each) - 100%

Second semester

1. Individual project - 85%
2. Presentation (recording and slides) - 15%

Recommended Reading List   

Kate Raworth (2017) Doughnut Economics. Random House: UK Chapter 4: Get Savvy with Systems

Elinor Ostrom (2012) Nested externalities and polycentric institutions: must we wait for global solutions to climate change before taking action at other scales? Economic Theory 49(2): 353-369.

James C. Scott (1998) Seeing like a state: How certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed, Yale University Press.

Donella Meadows (1999) “Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System”. The Sustainability Institute. http://drbalcom.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/35173014/Leverage_Points.pdf

Wright, C., Nyberg, D., Rickards, L., Freund, J. (2018), Organizing in the Anthropocene, „Organization”, 25 (4), s. 455–471: doi.org/10.1177%2F1350508418779649.

Inoue, C.Y.A., Moreira, P.F. (2016), Many Worlds, Many Nature(S), One Planet. Indigenous Knowledge in the Anthropocene, „Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional”, 59 (2) 

Syvitski, J., Waters, C.N., Day, J. i in. (2020), Extraordinary Human Energy Consumption and Resultant Geological Impacts Beginning around 1950 ce Initiated the Proposed Anthropocene Epoch, „Communications Earth & Environment”, 1 (1), s. 1–13: doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00029-y

Bolt, J., van Zanden, J.L. (2020), Maddison Style Estimates of the Evolution of the World Economy. A New 2020 Update, Maddison Project Database, version 2020: https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/publications/wp15.pdf 

Rutger Bregman (2021) Humankind: A Hopeful History. Bloomsbury.Part I Introduction and Chapter 3

Sophie Atkinson (2021) ‘More than a job ’ : the food delivery co-ops putting fairness into the gig economy. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/11/more-than-a-job-the-meal-delivery-co-ops-making-the-gig-economy-fairer

Matt Kennard & Ana Caistor-Arendar (2016) Occupy Buenos Aires: the workers' movement that transformed a city, and inspired the world. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/10/occupy-buenos-aires-argentina-workers-cooperative-movement

Saving Capitalism documentary (2017) https://www.netflix.com/title/80127558

Ostrom, E. (1990) Governing the commons. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  

Wodniak, K. (2021) Social leverage of sporting mega-events and co-production. The case study of Orlik facilities in Poland after EURO 2012, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2020.1859585