Course Materials
Dr. Reinhard Heinisch
Sample Graduate Course
E-mail: heinisch+@pitt.edu
http://www.pitt.edu/~heinisch
The EU and the European Welfare State
3 Credits
The end of "golden age of the world economy" has brought enormous challenges in the form of increased needs and shrinking resources to the welfare systems established in Western Europe. In addition, the process of European integration has created unforeseen constraints and opportunities for the national and supranational social policy, especially, since the European Union itself has embarked on an ambitious social dialogue.
The course will try to grapple with the implications of these developments both at the European and national level. The objective is, thus, to trace the complex interactions between the national and supra-national level. The course is structured to cover:
Main Texts - Required Reading
Substantial portions of the texts below will be required reading. Photocopies and/or texts available on reserve.
Recommended Texts:
Each week's topic is prefaced by a set of questions about the reading, which will be the subject of debate for that unit. The students who choose that particular week as one of their three written reading reviews are expected to be the discussion leaders. In addition, you will be asked to develop a research proposal and framework for studying national welfare states and EU social policy.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - TERM PROJECT
(1) Introduction and Brief Overview: Brief lecture, work assignments and administrative details.
(2) Conceptual, Economic and Ideological Basis: Approaching the "welfare state" in the literature.
Themes/Questions:
How can we define the welfare state and what are its objectives? How to classify welfare state types and welfare regimes, what are the problems? How did welfare states originate? How did welfare states evolve? What are explanations offered in the literature? How can welfare states be conceptualized and compared? What are misconceptions about welfare state development? What were the post-war phases in welfare state development? Do welfare states converge/diverge?
Required Readings:
Suggested Reading:
(3) The Crisis of the Welfare State: Economic, demographic, philosophical challenges to social policy.
Themes/Questions:
Interpret and comment on the following statements: welfare states are not only inefficient but also corrupting;the new economy is more demanding and less forgiving than the old; although certain fiscal factors can be identified,...., the critical political struggle is over how to manipulate the public perception; the debate about welfare must get away from narrow issues like poverty to the broader question of social justice and social citizen rights." Why is the Social-Democratic/Liberal welfare state so hard to defend? What is the connection between Bretton Woods and the golden age of the welfare state. What is the relationship between Keynesianism and the modern welfare state? -- Challenges and consequences?
Required Readings:
Suggested Reading:
(4) National Welfare Models, their Evolution and Comparison:
Themes/Questions:
What are the national models in Europe? Bismarck, Beveridge, Social Democratic Welfare states. How can European social systems be grouped and conceptualized. What are the problems of welfare late comers? What is the importance of class alliances versus the Left-Power hypothesis? What are common trends and challanges? Do we see convergence or continued divergence?
Required Readings:
(5) Welfare State as a form of economic governance Labor market Regime
Themes/Questions:
What do welfare states do? Is their primary function to relieve poverty and to provide a modicum of security; are they merely social engineering; or are they a part of economic governance? What do we mean by economic citizenship? How does this differ from other concepts of citizenship? Social Policies always modify market outcomes - can there be a neoliberal social policy? Do markets need to be protected from politics? Can social policies exist in globalized neoliberal economies?
Required Readings:
(6) Reforms of the Welfare State
Themes/Questions:
How is the discourse on reform being led -- who speaks and who is silent? Which values are employed and whose interests are represented and whose omitted? Do welfare states converge or diverge? What are the reform trends at the national level? What problems are welfare states likely to face? Which national models are likely to fare better and which worse? Are welfare states still sovereign decision makers and the masters of their own house?
Is reform happening? Which groups pursue retrenchment and reforms and which groups resist. What strategies are being pursued? How can we explain the changes we see? Are the reforms more talk than action?
Required Readings:
Suggested Reading:
(7) Explaining European Social Policy - The Usefulness of Theoretical Approaches:
Themes/Questions:
How to study social policy in conjunction with European integration. What is the connection between theories of integration and social policy? What is the appropriate theoretical framework for analysis: macro-level, meso-level approaches, Institutionalism, neofunctionalism? How can we analyze multi-tier-systems (layer cakes, fruit cakes, marble cakes)? What is the relevance of joint decision traps? What is meant by competitive state building? What are the methodological issues surrounding the studying of European integration?
Required Readings:
Suggested Reading:
(8) History of European Social Policy - The Social Dialogue from Rome through Amsterdam
Themes/Questions:
What are, were the main actors in the European social dialogue? Which strategies did they pursue? When and how did the narrowly defined social provision in the Rome treaty become social policies. What were the original social issues and to what extent was the scope extended? When did social policy become a binding goal of the European Community/Union? What were the active/direct ways (directives, court cases) in which the EC shaped the social agenda of member states, what were the negative/indirect ways (preemptions, pressures) in which this was taking place? What were the changes brought on by the SEA and the TEU, especially, the social charter/protocol.
Required Readings:
(9) Economic Integration, the Institutional Framework, Member States
Themes/Questions:
Describe the social policy making under the social protocol. How does the policy process work (Green Paper/White Paper>Proposal>directive/regulation). What was the role of the Commission, the EP, and the Council? What was the role of the courts and of the European social partners? How are labor market issues (developing the single currency/single market) linked to the social dialogue? What is meant by a European social citizenship and how/where is it enshrined? How are member states, especially new members impacted by the social dialogue?
Required Readings:
(10) Specific Benefits and Programs -- Regional Development
Themes/Questions:
How are regional development and social policy linked? What is the role of the ESF? What are some of the specific programs, action plans and guidelines. How do these impact member states? How do member states respond to decisions by the EU. Do we find evidence of competitive state building? What is the verdict of experts?
Required Readings:
Suggested Reading:
(11) The European Union after Amsterdam
Themes/Questions:
Describe the social policy making after Amsterdam. How did the policy process change as a result of the institutional change? How are Agenda 2000 and Enlargement linked to social policy? What are the connections between social policy and other policies, specifically quality of life issues such as environment, consumer protection and competition?
Required Readings:
(12) Monetary Union - Integration and Globalization
Themes/Questions:
Focusing once again on the single market, how does monetary union affect national social policies? Does European integration strengthen, weaken social policy at the national level from the perspective of the citizen; respectively, does European integration protect member states from globalization and the neo-liberal resurgence? Does European integration compound the effects of globalization, or are the two developments unrelated? How does globalization affect public policy -- what hypotheses does the literature offer? Is the European model/way of life under siege by "American Super Capitalism."
Required Readings:
(13) Regulation - Sovereignty - Democracy
Themes/Questions:
How are economic regulation, competition and internal market reforms linked to the issue of welfare policies at the European and national level? How do issues such as democracy, sovereignty, popular choice factor into the EU social dialogue? Is it democratic or simply the tyranny of experts? How can it be justified? In what ways do the imperatives of economic efficiency conflict with the imperatives of sovereignty/democracy and the normative preference for social justice and protection. How can these issues be reconciled?
Required Readings:
(14) Trends, Future of European Welfare State
Themes/Questions:
What is the current state of European Social policy? What is its likely future? Which predictions may be generated? In terms of social policy, what will the relationship be between member states and the EU in 2010? What role will European social policy play in the global environment? In terms of studying welfare policies, which theoretical approaches are the most promising?
Required Readings:
WEEK 1:
WEEK 2:
Brushing up on the philosophical/ideological foundations of the European welfare state; i.e., the foundations of liberalism, democracy, conservatism, socialism-Marxism, etc.
WEEK 3:
Fritz Scharpf (1997) Crisis and Choice in European Social Democracy pp.3-40.
WEEK 4:
WEEK 5:
WEEK 6:
Petti Ahonen (1994) "Analyzing Institutional Crises in a small Welfare State: Combining the Prespectives of Politics, Economics and Institutions." Current Politics and Economics of Europe 4(4) pp239-260.
WEEK 7:
WEEK 8:
WEEK 9:
WEEK 10:
WEEK 11:
WEEK 12:
WEEK 13:
WEEK 14:
