300460 International Organizations in Global Social Policy (S) (SoSe 2022)

While its historical roots lie in the Western welfare state, we can nowadays observe the globalization of social policy. This is a twofold development: first, social policy is becoming a legitimate concern of global actors (the ‘socialization’ of international organizations and new social movements); second, social policy is spreading to the Global South (globalization of social policy in a spatial sense). We will concentrate on the first aspect – what social policies international organizations pursue – but we will also clarify the extent of international organizations’ influence on the spread and reform of social policies in countries worldwide.

We address several questions:
• What is global social policy, and what does ‘global’ mean in this context?
• What actors are relevant in global social policy, which does not consist of a centralized ‘world state’?
• What global social ideas are (and have been, historically) dominant in global social policy, and what is the role of ideas in this field at all?
• What policies do global actors pursue?
• What is the relationship between a ‘global level’ of social policies and ideas on the one hand, and the local or national level of social policy on the other hand, which is still where most institutions of social policy can be found (i.e., we investigate concepts such as ‘diffusion’)?

Requirements for participation, required level

It is helpful – but not a necessity – if participants have prior knowledge on social policy and/or global politics.
You can browse through the journal ‘Global Social Policy’, to get an idea of the field.
You can also look into Deacon, Bob (2007): Global Social Policy & Governance. Sage.