300436 Social Policy in Developing Countries (S) (WiSe 2022/2023)

The seminar is divided into theoretical and empirical parts.

The first part of the seminar starts with the definition of social policy. After that we look closely at society in terms of social stratification, class, and inequality. Our main focus in these two sessions is on how all of these attributes affects individuals live and shape vulnerable groups. In the fourth session we will see what is social protection and how these programs try to deal with the problems of vulnerable groups. In the fifth session we will discuss the role of actors in shaping social policies in developing countries from international organizations such as the International Labour Organization or the World Bank to domestic actors. In the sixth session our main attention will be on the historical review of social policy in developing countries.

In the empirical part of this seminar, we will focus on two social policy programmes in developing countries for old-age protection and poverty alleviation. First, we will discuss in three sessions retirement and pension policies. We will see how the pension system is linked not only to social protection for vulnerable groups but also to labor and financial market. After that we focus on poverty in developing countries: What is absolute and relative poverty? And which policies have been used to reduce poverty in these countries. The empirical part helps us to recognize the complexity of these schemes when they are implemented in the developing countries.

In the concluding part, in one session we discuss how we can analysis social policy in developing countries.

The course is designed as an introductory seminar.

Requirements for participation, required level

No specific previous knowledge is expected.