The Internationalised Politics of Welfare

In recent years, scholars of welfare state politics and social policy have paid increasing attention to internationalized welfare as a field of study. In contrast to the traditional welfare state literature which conceptualizes social policy primarily as a national issue, this relatively new branch of scholarship emphasizes the influence of global dynamics and international entanglements on both social needs and welfare provision. Elements of internationalization include a broad range of factors, from imperial legacies, globalized economies and geopolitical dependency to internationally fostered and financed social policy designs and benchmarking practices. These factors are particularly influential, but not limited to, welfare states in the Global South. Different strands of research have contributed to our knowledge of internationalized welfare. Phenomena of internationalized welfare have been described in the fields of social history, international political economy, development studies, and public policy/global social policy. Also, more practice-oriented research on poverty reduction research, global health and humanitarian aid have contributed immensely. These research fields, however, are often too disconnected to bring forth collectively shared understandings of internationalized welfare. Bringing these different strands of research together, this section seeks to advance empirical and theoretical discussions about internationalized welfare. Doing so, we aim to highlight continuities and changes in internationalized welfare from the ‘age of empires’ to the present period of ‘global social governance’. Specifically, we ask: How do global challenges and international political structures – from imperial rule to global governance – impact on national and local welfare institutions? What role do international and transnational actors play in the design, finance and provision of welfare systems? Which ideas and interests drive such involvement? Finally, how does internationalization impact on state-society relations and collective expectations of the (welfare) state? To address the above questions, we invite panels and papers from various disciplinary, geographical, and methodological backgrounds. We specifically encourage, but are not limited to, contributions focusing on welfare systems in late-developing and less industrialized economies as well as on international responses to welfare state crises.