Comparative Welfare State Politics

The welfare state nowadays faces a number of serious challenges, from the aftermath of the economic crisis to the current refugee crisis. As such, it remains at the centre of political conflict and is a core domain of research for political scientists. Drawing on these premises, we invite a broad range of contributions to this Section devoted to the study of comparative welfare state politics. The Section aims to cover a broad range of theoretical, empirical and methodological issues in the analysis of the politics of welfare state reform. This ranges from the development of theoretical frameworks to explain welfare state change, the impact of globalisation and migration on social security schemes, the role of party and electoral politics on welfare state reforms, to the development of innovative methodological tools to analyse and understand welfare state change. Levels of analysis can range from individual preferences for social protection to comparative analyses of national systems or developments at the international level. Given the importance and diversity of welfare state research within political science, the Section aims to be open to a wide variety of perspectives (including quantitative and qualitative research) while keeping a focus on the political aspects of the welfare state.