300456 Global Social Policy (S) (SoSe 2025)

This seminar focuses on the global dimension of social policy-making. We examine two different dimensions: The first dimension addresses how national welfare states respond to the global political economy constellations of globalization and whether this could result in a “race to the bottom”, reducing welfare state standards to attract foreign capital and manufacturers. The second dimension explores the role of international organizations and their influence on national social policy-making. We will learn about various organizations (such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OECD), and the World Bank) and assess whether they act as traditional neoliberal entities promoting welfare state retrenchment, or if they advocate for a social-democratic conception of the welfare state that values social dialogue among trade unions and employers, including redistribution.

After attending the seminar, students will be able to:

- Understand different theoretical frameworks for explaining global and international politics and policy.
- Identify different concepts of social policy and welfare state studies.
- Study specific policy proposals by various actors with an emphasis on international organisations.
- Formulate research questions on social policy discourses of transnational policy actors, identify empirical sources, and study them as part of a term paper.