Prof Jonathan Hopkin

This course is available on the MSc in Comparative Politics, MSc in European and International Public Policy, MSc in European and International Public Policy (LSE and Bocconi), MSc in European and International Public Policy (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in Global Politics, MSc in Inequalities and Social Science, MSc in Political Economy of Europe, MSc in Political Economy of Europe (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in Political Science and Political Economy, MSc in Public Administration and Government (LSE and Peking University), MSc in Public Policy and Administration and MSc in The Global Political Economy of China and Europe (LSE and Fudan). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course provides an overview of the politics of inequality in the rich democracies. The objective is to explain why the distribution of wealth, income and opportunities differs so much between democratic countries with similar levels of economic development, particularly in Europe. The course draws largely on political science, although perspectives from other disciplines - such as economics and social policy - are brought in as appropriate. The focus is on understanding how institutions and policies redistribute resources in different ways across countries and over time. The course explains why welfare states emerged in the twentieth century and how welfare policies differ in different countries, the impact of labour market institutions, the redistributive implications of age, gender and ethnic differences, the role of competing economic and political ideologies, and the way inequality has been affected by structural changes to the global economy. The aim is to understand the striking differences in social cohesion and human development amongst the world's rich democracies.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars totalling a minimum of 25 hours across Michaelmas Term. The teaching will be delivered this year through a combination of online and on-campus formats (or if required, online only). This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of Michaelmas Term.

All students are expected to submit one non-assessed essay.

• Esping-Andersen, Gosta (1990), The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press
• Piketty, Thomas (2014), Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Belknapp
• Alesina, Alberto and Edward Glaeser (2004). Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe. A World of Difference. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Essay (100%, 5000 words) in the LT.

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