Prof Timo Fleckenstein

This course is compulsory on the BSc in International Social and Public Policy, BSc in International Social and Public Policy and Economics and BSc in International Social and Public Policy with Politics. This course is not available as an outside option nor to General Course students.

This course is only available to students who have completed Understanding International Social and Public Policy (SP100).

The course introduces the comparative method in social policy research as well as the main analytical approaches to understanding social policy developments in high income countries. By examining the interaction between social policy, employment and families, it explores how and why different countries pursue different paths and how this may be changing.

The course also examines social policy in middle- and low-income countries and explores the forces shaping both how policy problems are perceived and the impact of key international and supranational institutions on social policymaking in different areas of the world.

All teaching will be in accordance with the LSE Academic Code (https://info.lse.ac.uk/current-students/lse-academic-code) which specifies a "minimum of two hours taught contact time per week when the course is running in the Autumn Term (AT) and/or Winter Term (WT)". Social Policy courses are predominantly taught through a combination of in-person lectures and in-person classes/seminars. Further information will be provided by the Course Convenor in the first lecture of the course.

This course is taught in both AT & WT.

Students are expected to submit two pieces of formative written work throughout the academic year and are expected to read for and prepare contributions to class discussion each week.

P Beramendi, S Häusermann, H Kitschelt & H Kriesi (eds) (2015) The Politics of Advanced Capitalism

D Béland, S Leibfried, KJ Morgan, H Obinger & C Pierson (eds) (2022) The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, 2nd edition

B Deacon (2007) Global Social Policy and Governance

I Gough & G Wood (eds) (2004) Insecurity and Welfare Regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America

A Hemerijck (ed) (2017) The Uses of Social Investment

J Lewis (2009) Work-Family Balance, Gender and Policy

N Yeates & C Holden (eds) (2022) Understanding Global Social Policy, 3rd edition

Exam (100%, duration: 3 hours) in the spring exam period.