Welfare States in Crisis: Challenges to Social Solidarity and Governance

In recent years the European welfare state has come under several challenges: economically, socially, politically, and culturally. The recent migrant crisis, for one, is challenging numerous countries in terms of social support services, security, cultural identity, and legal provision. Populist movements are challenging the dynamics of migrant integration and assimilation and the way political leadership is dealing with them. Are traditional ideals of solidarity being replaced by others? Assumptions of traditional welfare provision are also being challenged by the policies of neoliberalism. Do growing forms of economic inequality undermine the traditional safety nets afforded by state welfare policies? Forms of social solidarity have been a central concern of political sociology from its very inception. It is the social causes and consequences of these challenges that will be the focus of the Panels for this Section. It seems particularly fitting for political sociologists to examine those challenges at a conference in Oslo since the Nordic countries have often been viewed as model welfare states. Does the Nordic model or any other welfare state model seem capable of addressing the contemporary challenges? Other challenges target the public sphere and debate, educational reform, governance driven by rankings and technocratic indicators, social movements, law, and gender. Panels will be organized around types of challenges welfare democracies are facing, such as the welfare crises in Eastern and Balkan countries, transnational forms of solidarity in the EU, the new legitimation crisis of political leadership, the social bases of politicisation/depoliticisation, measuring institutional competitiveness and decline, revisiting the Nordic model, and the politics of flexible solidarity. Potential Panels: 1. Chair: Tatjana Sekulic (U. of Milano): The Migrant Crisis in Southeastern EU Countries 2. Chairs: Gilles Ivaldi (U. of Nice) and Oscar Mazzoleni (U. of Lausanne): The Populist Radical Right and the European Welfare State 3. Chairs: Philipp Harfst (U. of Oldenburg) and Claudia Wiesner (U. of Jyväskylä): Political Legitimacy and Legitimation 4. Chair: Hans-Jörg Trenz (U. of Copenhagen): Transforming Welfare States and Transnational Solidarities 5. Chair: Tatjana Sekulic (U. of Milano): Welfare State Crises in the Eastern and Balkan Countries 6. Chairs: Carlo Ruzza (U. of Trento) and Rosa Sanchez (U. of Amsterdam): Solidarity at the EU Level of Civil Society 7. Chairs: Niilo Kauppi (U. of Jyväskylä) and Claudia Wiesner (U. of Jyväskylä): Rethinking EU Politicisation 8. Chair: Tero Erkkilä (U. of Helsinki): Governance by Indicators and Algorithms