PSC 288 Comparative Social Policy

Fall 2007, 5:10-7:00 p.m.

Professor Kimberly Morgan

Office: Hall of Government, Rm. 418
Phone: 994-2809

Email: kjmorgan@gwu.edu

Office Hours: M, W 1:45-3:00, or by appointment

Summary

This course will examine social policy in comparative perspective with a focus on advanced industrialized states. The aim is not only to understand the varying ways in which nations have addressed social issues, but also the political forces that shape these responses. The course will emphasize the policies and programs of the welfare state, including labor market, anti-poverty, family, pension, and health care policy. Much of the course will focus on the U.S. and Western Europe, but we will spend two weeks examining social policy outside the west and in the developing world.

Readings

The following book(s) are available for purchase at the GWU bookstore:

Alberto Alesina and Edward L. Glaeser, Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of Difference (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Chris Howard, The Welfare State Nobody Knows: Debunking Myths about U.S. Social Policy (Princeton University Press 2007).

Blackboard

The required readings can be accessed through Blackboard’s e-reserve system. In addition to the required readings, you can find a number of other useful things on Blackboard, including a copy of the syllabus, helpful websites, and copies of any handouts from class. I’ll also post the two take-home exam questions on the web when the time comes, and information about the short research paper (see below).

Most of the readings have been scanned into the system as pdf files, and you can either read them on your computer or print them out. You will find all readings under the “e-reserves” heading in the Blackboard menu.

To log onto Blackboard, you will need a Colonial email address and be registered for this course. To log in, go to http://blackboard.gwu.edu and type in your NetID and email password. If you have any questions or problems, you can first try going to http://helpdesk.gwu.edu. I suggest that you try to access Blackboard as soon as possible, to make sure that you are in the system and understand some of its features.

Course requirements

(1) Class participation and weekly discussion questions: as a small seminar, class participation is vital to the success of this course. For that reason, I will be keeping track of who comes to class and how much they talk, and will factor this into your final grade. To help foster discussion, I’d like you to email to me a set of questions each week that the reading raised in your mind – the kinds of questions that might be useful for the class to discuss. You should start doing this for the reading on week two, although everyone is allowed two weeks of “amnesty” from having to send in weekly questions. I must receive them by noon on the day of class.

(2) Two take-home essay exams. I will post the questions on a set date, and you will have 48 hours to complete these essays. You can choose the 48-hour period in which you’d like write the essay; when ready, log into blackboard and click on the exam (under the testing tab), and I will be able to see when you downloaded it. This means you should not download the exam until you are ready to take it, as the clock will be ticking from the time you first click on it.

(3) One short research paper. This paper is for you to develop your interest in a particular area of social policy. The paper should be 12-15 pages, and examine an aspect of social policy in another country (or countries), or else look at an American social policy in comparative perspective. Everyone should meet with me once during the semester to discuss their topic. We’ll discuss the paper on the first day of class and collectively set a due date. Detailed specifications about the paper (length, font, citations, etc.) are posted on Blackboard.

(4) Longer paper option. If you choose, you may write a longer research paper in lieu of the second take-home exam and the short research paper. The paper should be 25-30 pages and you should discuss this with me in advance – preferably by the middle of the semester – in the event that you would like to do this.

Grading

-- Discussion questions and class participation: 20%

-- Each take-home exam: 25%

-- Research paper: 30% (55% for longer paper option)

Week One: Introduction to the Comparative Study of Social Policy (September 4)

Introduction to the themes of course; why study comparative public policy; benefits and pitfalls of comparison; why does the U.S. rely so little on comparison?

Week Two: Why a Welfare State? Normative Underpinnings and Debates (Sept. 11).

T.H. Marshall, “Citizenship and Social Class,” chp. 4 in Class, Citizenship, and Social Development.

Richard E. Goodin, “Dependency,” in Reasons for Welfare: The Political Theory of the Welfare State (1988).

Lawrence Mead, “The Common Obligations,” in Beyond Entitlement (1986).

Carole Pateman, “The Patriarchal Welfare State,” in Amy Gutmann, ed., Democracy and the Welfare State (1988).

Week Three: Characterizing and conceptualizing welfare states in the West (September 18)

What does the welfare state look like in different countries? How should we characterize the American welfare state?

Alesina and Glaeser, chp. 2, “Redistribution in the United States and Europe: The Data,” pp. 15-49. Please skim this for the data and overall picture it provides.

Gøsta Esping-Andersen, “The Three Political Economies of the Welfare State,” (1989).

Ann Shola Orloff, “Gender and the Social Rights of Citizenship.”

Diane Sainsbury, “Immigrants’ Social Rights in Comparative Perspective” (2006).

Howard, chps. 1-2 (pp. 13-52).

Optional

If you’re having trouble making sense of Esping-Andersen, I’ve posted an article that discusses the piece: “Three worlds of welfare capitalism or more? A state-of-the-art report.”

Week Four: Explaining differences in social policy; historical origins, working class power, and religion (September 25). Why did all western countries develop some form of welfare state in the last 100 years? How did the balance of class power shape the nature of welfare states? How might religion matter?

Chris Pierson, “On the origins of welfare state 1880-1975,” in Pierson, Beyond the Welfare State? The New Political Economy of Welfare (1998).

John Stephens, “Labour Organisation and the Welfare State: A Comparative Historical Analysis,” in Stephens, The Transition from Capitalism to Socialism (1986).

Sigrun Kahl, “Religion as a Cultural Force: Social Doctrines and Poor Relief Traditions,” pp. 266-90.

Howard, chp. 3-4 (pp. 53-69; 73-91).

Week Five: Political institutions, culture, diversity, and American exceptionalism (October 2). What explains American exceptionalism – its distinctive culture, its institutions, or its ethnic and racial make-up? What implications does this have for how we think about the origins of welfare states in other countries?

Alesina and Glaeser, chps. 4-7, pp. 77-216.

Sven Steinmo “American Exceptionalism Reconsidered: Culture or Institutions?” in Larry Dodd and Calvin Jillson (eds.), The Dynamics of American Politics: Approaches and Interpretations (1994).

Seymour Martin Lipset, “The American Ideology,” in Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of the United States and Canada (1990).

Howard, chp. 6 (pp. 109-24).

Week Six: pensions and old-age security (October 9)

Why do pension systems look different? Why is it difficult to reform pension systems? How do pension systems affect different groups in the population?

Gøsta Esping-Andersen, “State and Market in the Formation of Pension Regimes,” in Esping-Andersen, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (1990).

Martin Feldstein, “The Case for Privatization.” Foreign Affairs 1997.

Pamela Herd, “Women, Public Pensions, and Poverty: What Can the U.S. Learn from Other Countries?” unpublished ms.

John Myles and Paul Pierson, “The Comparative Political Economy of Pension Reform,” in Paul Pierson, ed., The New Politics of the Welfare State (2001).

Martin Schludi, “Sweden: Policy-Oriented Bargaining,” in The Reform of Bismarckian Pension Systems (2005).

Week Seven: Health Care Policy I; understanding different systems (October 16)

What are the core dimensions of health care systems? How do countries differ on those dimensions?

Michael Moran, “Understanding the Welfare State: The Case of Health Care,” British Journal of Politics and International Relations (2000).

Alan Maynard and Karen Bloor, Our Certain Fate: Rationing in Health Care (1998): 7-26, then choose some of the other country examples of rationing.

Robert H. Blank and Viola Burau, “The Medical Profession,” Comparative Health Policy (2004).

Gerald Anderson, et al., “Health Spending in the United States and the Rest of the Industrialized World,” Health Affairs (2005).

American Journal of Public Health symposium, January 2003, on health care abroad:

* Raise Berlin Deber, “Health Care Reform: Lessons from Canada.”

* Victor Rodwin, “The Health Care System under French National Insurance.”

* Donald W. Light, “Universal Health Care: Lessons from the British Experience.”

* Christa Altenstetter, “Insights from Health Care in Germany.”

Week Eight: Health care policy II; Explaining Differences (October 23)

Why have countries adopted different health care systems? How can we explain American exceptionalism in this area?

Sven Steinmo, “It’s the Institutions Stupid: Why Comprehensive National Health Insurance Always Fails in America.”

Antonia Maioni, “Parting at the Crossroads: The Development of Health Insurance in Canada and the United States, 1940-1965,” Comparative Politics (1997).

Jill Quadagno, “Why the United States Has No National Health Insurance: Stakeholder Mobilization against the Welfare State, 1945-1996” Journal of Health and Social Behavior (2004).

Jacob Hacker, “The Elusive Cure: Public and Private Health Insurance after 1945,” in The Divided Welfare State: The Battle over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States (2003).

FIRST TAKE-HOME EXAM WILL BE POSTED OCT. 24 AT 5 P.M.

Week nine: Labor market policy (October 30)

What are the patterns of employment and unemployment across western countries? How have European countries responded to the problem of unemployment? How do public policies affect women’s labor force participation?

Margarita Estevez-Abe, Torben Iversen, and David Soskice, “Social Protection and the Formation of Skills: A Reinterpretation of the Welfare State,” in Peter A. Hall and David Soskice, Varieties of Capitalism (2001).

Jeylan T. Mortimer and Helga Krüger, “Pathways from School to Work in Germany and the United States.”

Robert Henry Cox, “From Safety Net to Trampoline: Labor Market Activation in the Netherlands and Denmark,” Governance (1998).

Jelle Visser, “The First Part-Time Economy in the World: A Model to be Followed?” Journal of European Social Policy (2002).

Optional

Lars Ljungqvist, “European Unemployment, Labour Market Institutions and Economic Turbulence,” CESifo DICE Report 2/2003: 7-11.

Stephen Nickell, “Labour Market Institutions and Unemployment in OECD Countries,” CESifo DICE Report 2/2003: 13-25.

Week ten: the organization of care (November 6)

How does the question of care affect the way we view welfare states? How do different societies and polities organize the provision of care for children and the elderly? What are the consequences of these different arrangements?

Jane Jenson, “Who Cares? Gender and Welfare Regimes.” Social Politics 1997.

Ann Shola Orloff, “Farewell to Maternalism? State Policies and Mothers’ Employment.” IPR Working Paper 05-10 (Northwestern University).

Janet C. Gornick and Marcia K. Meyers, “Supporting a Dual-Earner/Dual-Carer Society: Policy Lessons from Abroad.” (2004).

Frances Castles, “The World Turned Upside Down: Below Replacement Fertility, Changing Preferences and Family-Friendly Policy in 21 OECD Countries.” Journal of European Social Policy.

Andrea Louise Campbell and Kimberly J. Morgan, “Federalism and the Politics of Old-Age Care in Germany and the United States.” Comparative Politics Studies (2005).

Week eleven: poverty and inequality (November 13)

Walter Korpi and Joakim Palme, “The Paradox of Redistribution,” American Sociological Review (1998).

Howard, chps. 5, 10 (pp. 92-108; 192-209).

Karen Christopher, “Welfare State Regimes and Mothers’ Poverty,” Social Politics (2002).

Anne Daguerre, “Importing Workfare: Policy Transfer of Social and Labour Market Policies from the USA to Britain under New Labour,” Social Policy and Administration (2004).

Measuring Poverty

“Poverty in the OECD” tables from the LIS Project.

John Cassidy, “Relative Deprived: How Poor is Poor?” New Yorker April 3, 2006.

Optional

Sarah McLanahan and Erin Kelley, “The Feminization of Poverty.”

A comprehensive review of the effects of American welfare reform can be found in Rebecca M. Blank “Evaluating Welfare Reform in the United States,” Journal of Economic Literature (2002).

Week twelve (November 20): non-western welfare states I; models and typologies

Ian Holliday, “Productivist Welfare Capitalism: Social Policy in East Asia,” Political Studies (2000).

Ian Gough, “Welfare Regimes in Development Contexts: A Global and Regional Analysis,” in Gough and Geof Wood, eds., Insecurity and Welfare Regimes in Asia, Africa, and Latin America: Social policy in development contexts (2004).

Lauren Morris McLean, “Constructing a Social Safety Net in Africa” (2002).

World Development Report 2004: chapter 1 “Services Can Work for Poor People but Too Often They Fail.”

Week thirteen: non-western welfare states II; pressures on social provision (November 27)

Nita Rudra, Who Really Gets Hurt? Globalization and the Race to the Bottom in Developing Countries, chps. 1 and 5.

Jean L. Pyle, “Globalization, Transnational Migration, and Gendered Care Work: Introduction,” Globalizations (2006).

Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Katharina Müller, “The Politics of Pension Reform in Latin America,” Journal of Latin American Studies (2002).

Bob Deacon, “Eastern European Welfare States: The Impact of the Politics of Globalization,” Journal of European Social Policy (2000).

Week fourteen: The future of social policy (December 4)

Jacob Hacker, “Privatizing Risk without Privatizing the Welfare State: The Hidden Politics of Social Policy Retrenchment in the United States” (May 2004).

Neil Gilbert, “Toward the Enabling State” (2004).

Peter H. Lindert, “On the Well-Known Demise of the Swedish Welfare State.”

Jane Jenson and Denis Saint-Martin, “Building Blocks for a New Social Architecture: The LEGO Paradigm of an Active Society,” (2006).