Fall/Winter Timetable
JRA2321H1S L5101
Undergraduate Course Code: POL438H1S L5101
Topics in Comparative Politics I
Welfare Capitalism in Western Europe
Themes
This course will present the characteristics and evolution of the so called European social models. We will review first the arguments and approaches of the varieties of capitalism literature and the theories of the welfare state. Secondly, there will be a brief introduction to the different social models in Europe. Thirdly, key welfare policies such as health care, education, unemployment insurance, family and income support, and retirement pensions will be explained. Fourthly, we will look in detail at the way governments in Scandinavia, Continental and Anglophone Europe, and the Mediterranean region address those policies. Finally, we will look at specific reforms in these welfare states, considering recent economic and political developments, i.e. multiculturalism and migration, the global financial crisis, or the role of the European Union in the provision of public services.
The course will draw on some basic economic ideas, but prior background in economics is not a prerequisite.
November 14, 2023
Congratulations to Madalyn Hay, a recipient of a 2023-2024 Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellowship. Madalyn, one of our doctoral students, holds a BAH in Contemporary Studies and Classics from the...
August 24, 2023
Congratulations to alumna Meaghan Williams, a recipient of the 2022-23 Governor General’s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence, the highest academic honour available to graduate students in Canada. Awarded annually by the Office of the...
June 14, 2021
Great news from the Canadian Political Science Association, which held its annual awards ceremony (online) over the weekend of June 12 & 13: Professor Stefan Rencken’s book "Private Governance and Public...
April 22, 2021
Congratulations to two political science alumni now teaching at U of T who have both won Superior Teaching Awards! Igor Shoikhedbrod and Khalid Ahmed will be celebrated on May 5th at...
August 6, 2020
Q&A with 2020 Vanier Scholar Yojana Miraya Oscco Congratulations to PhD student Yojana Miraya Oscco who has won a prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC). Launched in 2008, the program enables...
April 30, 2020
Congratulations to our graduate student Kevin Edmonds who has won New College's June Larkin Award for Pedagogical Development. A PhD candidate specializing in Caribbean political economy, histories of alternative/illicit development, foreign intervention and...