Syllabus for Sustainability of Welfare Policies in the Modern Era

Hållbar välfärdspolitik i modern tid

A revised version of the syllabus is available.

Syllabus

  • 7.5 credits
  • Course code: 2EH424
  • Education cycle: Second cycle
  • Main field(s) of study and in-depth level: Economic History A1N

    Explanation of codes

    The code indicates the education cycle and in-depth level of the course in relation to other courses within the same main field of study according to the requirements for general degrees:

    First cycle

    • G1N: has only upper-secondary level entry requirements
    • G1F: has less than 60 credits in first-cycle course/s as entry requirements
    • G1E: contains specially designed degree project for Higher Education Diploma
    • G2F: has at least 60 credits in first-cycle course/s as entry requirements
    • G2E: has at least 60 credits in first-cycle course/s as entry requirements, contains degree project for Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science
    • GXX: in-depth level of the course cannot be classified

    Second cycle

    • A1N: has only first-cycle course/s as entry requirements
    • A1F: has second-cycle course/s as entry requirements
    • A1E: contains degree project for Master of Arts/Master of Science (60 credits)
    • A2E: contains degree project for Master of Arts/Master of Science (120 credits)
    • AXX: in-depth level of the course cannot be classified

  • Grading system: Fail (U), Pass (G), Pass with distinction (VG)
  • Established: 2020-06-26
  • Established by: The Department Board
  • Applies from: Spring 2021
  • Entry requirements:

    Accepted to the Master's Programme in Global Markets, Local Creativities (GLOCAL)

  • Responsible department: Department of Economic History

Decisions and guidelines

This course is included the Master's Programme in Global Markets, Local Creativities (GLOCAL)

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

  • in an advanced way describe and discuss distinctive features and development in modern capitalist welfare states.
  • describe and discuss different theoretical explanations to contemporary changes of modern welfare states.
  • analyse independently and critically both theoretical and empirical works in the field that the course covers.

Content

The course combines historical studies with special focus on Sweden and other Nordic welfare states with comparative studies of welfare states.

Which were the reasons to their emergence? Which are the causes of their presumed decline?

By alternating between advanced studies of historical trends of some cases with more general comparisons of several other countries, the course intends to develop the student's ability to understand and analyse complex processes concerning economic and institutional development.

Subjects that are brought up in this course include welfare state typologies, the historical roots of the welfare states, outcomes in the form of a decommodifying economic security, health and gender equality, not least gender relation and the family's role.

The course will also discuss and problematise questions that concern challenges against extensive public welfare systems and their sustainability in a post-industrial global world.

Instruction

The teaching is given in the form of lectures and seminars. The language of instruction is English

Assessment

The students are assessed through fulfilment of written and oral assignments.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

Syllabus Revisions

Reading list

Reading list

Applies from: Spring 2021

Some titles may be available electronically through the University library.

  • Emmenegger, Patrick. The age of dualization [Elektronisk resurs] : the changing face of inequality in deindustrializing societies

    New York: Oxford University Press, cop. 2012.

    Table of Contents / Abstracts

    Part III, chapter 8 Responses to Labor Market Divides in Small States Since The 1990s / Herbert Obinger, Peter Starke, and Alexandra Kaasch

    Find in the library

    Mandatory

  • Esping-Andersen, Gøsta The three worlds of welfare capitalism

    Cambridge: Polity, 1990

    Find in the library

    Mandatory

  • Hemerijck, Anton Changing Welfare States [Elektronisk resurs]

    2013

    Chapter 6-7

    Find in the library

    Mandatory

  • Lindert, Peter H. Growing public : social spending and economic growth since the eighteenth century. Vol. 1 The story

    Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004

    Part 1 and 4, chapter 7

    Find in the library

    Mandatory

  • Pontusson, Jonas Inequality and Prosperity: Social Europe Vs Liberal America [Elektronisk resurs]

    Cornell University Press, 2005

    Chapter 1, 7-9

    Find in the library

    Mandatory

  • Swenson, Peter A. Capitalists against markets : the making of labor markets and welfare states in the United States and Sweden

    New York: Oxford University Press, cop. 2002

    Parts I, III, IV

    Find in the library

    Mandatory

Additional articles of approx. 200 pages will be specified in the course documentation

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