Comparative Welfare States

Welfare states are the institutional answer a country gives to questions about who bears the risks of unemployment, illness, old age, and family care, and this graduate seminar treats those answers as objects of systematic comparison rather than policy descriptions. You'll work through the classic typologies and the theories that explain why regimes diverge and converge, then test that framework against contemporary pressures like aging, deindustrialization, and migration, mostly through assigned reports and presentations rather than exams. It sits at the intersection of comparative politics, political economy, and social policy, and is the natural follow-up for anyone whose thesis touches inequality, labor markets, or the politics of redistribution.