Welfare State Reforms

Welfare State Reforms: Accountability, Democracy, and Future Challenges

The European Studies Centre has been awarded research support from the Research Council of Norway to collaborate with the Stein Rokkan Research Centre on an interdisciplinary and comparative research project investigating the reforms of hospital care, welfare services, and immigration administration in Germany and Scandinavia. This externally funded project runs from January 2011 until 2014. The European Studies Centre is part of an international network of research centres comprising the University of Bergen (Norway), the University of Potsdam (Germany), and the Danish Institute for Governmental Research (Denmark).

Aims

The central research question of the project is how recent welfare reforms reshape the balance between traditional and new forms of public accountability in Northern Europe. How have the last decades of welfare reforms in Norway, Denmark and Germany affected the democratic system of public accountability and how has the role of elected politicians changed in the governance of social sectors in those countries? Is welfare politics becoming an increasingly technocratic and depoliticised process?
Our central aim is to understand how recent welfare reforms affect the link between democracy and the welfare state through the conceptual lenses of public accountability.

Research Team

	Dr Paola Mattei Principal Investigator Dr Paola Mattei is University Lecturer in Comparative Social Policy and Governing Body Fellow at St Antony’s College since 2010. She has published on health care reforms in West European Politics, Public Administration, and other international journals. She is the author of “Restructuring Welfare Organisations in Europe” (Palgrave, 2008). Her current research interests include also higher education reform and she co-convenes a weekly seminar series on that topic. Contact: paola.mattei@sant.ox.ac.uk
	Sally Thomas Research Assistant Sally completed her BA (Honours) in Sociology at the University of Warwick in 2011. One year of her undergraduate studies also included participating in the Erasmus programme whereby she spent a year abroad in Madrid, Spain at La Universidad Complutense studying a range of social science disciplines from Sociology to Anthropology. She is reading for an MSc in Comparative Social Policy at the University of Oxford in St Antony’s College. Her main academic interests include health care reform, long term unemployment and labour market activation policies. Contact: sally.thomas@sant.ox.ac.uk
	Valerie Caton Senior Associate Member Dr Valerie Caton’s diplomatic career includes postings to Brussels, Paris (twice), Stockholm and, most recently, as British Ambassador to Finland (2006-10). She has gained direct experience of the workings of EU Governments and institutions across a range of political, economic and social issues. Her most recent assignment has been the organisation in London in 2011 of a UK Nordic Baltic Summit, where nine Prime Ministers explored the latest economic, social and technological innovations with businesses, policy experts and NGOs from across the region. Dr Caton’s research interests are in the field of the political management of economic reform in Europe, with a particular focus on France and the Nordic countries. Her publications include a St Antony’s College Discussion Paper on ‘France and the Politics of EMU’, written whilst she was a Senior Associate Member in 2001-2. Contact: valerie.caton@btinternet.com
	Sarah Glatte Research Assistant Sarah holds a first class B.Sc. in Politics and International Relations from the University of Bath and a Master's degree with distinction in Women Studies from the University of Oxford. She is now a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Department of Politics and International Relations. Sarah has lived and worked in Germany, Thailand, and the UK. Her research interests include German politics, gender studies, and transitional justice. Contact: sarah.glatte@politics.ox.ac.uk
	Anne-Laure Guillermain is supporting us with all administrative tasks. She is the administrator of the ESC & the Secretary to Prof. Caplan. Anne-Laure joined the European Studies Centre in 2007. She has worked in secretarial and administrative roles in France, Italy and England in international businesses and educational establishments. She finished her Ba(Hons) in Language Studies with the Open University in 2009.

Research Activities

PhD symposium on "Reforming Welfare Organisations in Europe", Bergen, Norway, September 2012. Call for papers here.
An international workshop on "Healthcare Funding in Germany Norway and Denmark", Scancor, Stanford University, May 2012.
An international workshop on “Researching Accountability - Conceptual and Methodological Challenges” was held at the European Studies Centre from December 16-17, 2011. The workshop aimed to bring out parallels and contrasts in the interpretation of democratic accountability in mature European welfare states and discuss approaches to comparative study in this field. Upload presentation

International Conferences

Upcoming
July 2012	Presentation of paper on "Different Forms of Accountability in Hospital Reform" XXII World Congress of Political Science, International Political Studies Association, Madrid.
April 2012	Presentation of paper on "Hospital Reforms and Accountability Regimes in Norway, Denmark and Germany" Midwest Political Science Association's National Conference, Chicago. Upload papers here.
Past
November 11, 2011	Presentation of paper on "Hospital Investment Funding Reform in Germany: Pressures, Policy Reforms, Outcomes" at the conference "The changing organization of the welfare state - between efficiency and accountability" in Potsdam. (See the conference programme here.)