New Directions in Social Policy: Project Inception Workshop

Notwithstanding persistent economic uncertainty and social crisis in many parts of the world, remarkable changes are taking place, particularly in some emerging and developing economies, in the nature and scope of social and economic policies and programmes designed to achieve better social outcomes.

This workshop brings together invited experts for discussions that will lay the thematic, theoretical and methodological foundations for the research project, New Directions in Social Policy: Alternatives from and for the Global South. The project will investigate changes in the economic, social and political contexts for social policy making, and examine the nature of recent developments in social policy in emerging economies and developing countries. The purpose is to identify and understand innovative social policy approaches which can offer alternative solutions to the critical developmental challenges facing low- and middle-income countries in the 21st century.

Workshop sessions

I. New Risks and Challenges in Social Policy
II. Extending the Boundaries of Social Policy
III. Politics of Social Policy
IV. Evidence of New Policy and Institutional Complementarity
V. Evidence of New Directions in Social Policy (Regional Focus)
VI. Research Gaps and Next Steps for the Project

Session I: New Risks and Challenges in Social Policy

• Joakim Palme: Risks and Opportunities for Social Policy in the OECD
• Wendy Larner: Heterogeneity of Neoliberalism and Its Diverse Impacts
• Robert Boyer: The Changing Context for Production and Welfare Provision
• David Hulme: The Changing Structure of Inequality
• Jayati Ghosh: The Changing Context for Work and Well-Being for Women

Session II: Extending the Boundaries of Social Policy

• Sarah White: Social Policy from a Well-Being Perspective
• Magdalena Sepúlveda: The Challenges and Opportunities of Rights-Based Social Policy Design and Implementation
• Asunción Lera St. Clair: Trends in Eco-Social Policy, and Its Diverse Understandings, Content and Impacts
• Fred Cocozzelli: The Role of Social Policy in Peace-Building and Reconciliation
• Nitya Rao: Land Reform and Social Policy with a Focus on Women’s Rights

Session III: The Politics of Social Policy

• Daniel Béland: Social Policy Ideas and Their Translation into Policies
• Alexandra Kaasch: The New Politics of Crisis Management
• Fernando Filgueira: Political Dynamics of Social Policy

Session IV: Evidence of New Policy and Institutional Complementarity

• Ayşe Bugra: State, Market and Civil Society in the Financing and Provision of Social Services
• Anneli Anttonen and Jorma Sipilä: Varieties of Universalism
• Francesca Bastagli: New Trends in Social Protection and Policy Financing
• Irmgard Nübler: The Potential for Industrial Policy in the 21st Century, and Its Institutional Environment
• Sonia Montaño: The Distribution of Care and Work
• Michael Cichon: Social Policy Initiatives at the International Level

Session V: Evidence of New Directions in Social Policy (Regional Focus)

• Gabriele Köhler: South Asia
• Rana Jawad: Middle East and North Africa
• Jimi Adesina: Africa
• Andras Uthoff: Latin America
• Alexandre Sidorenko: Eastern Europe

Session VI: Research Gaps, and Next Steps for the Project