Democracy, Autocracy, and the Welfare State in the 21st Century: A Global Approach
Doctoral Seminar Series
Organizer: Dorottya Szikra, CEU Democracy Institute
Timing:
Wednesdays, 3PM-4.30 PM (CET), 12 occasions
Registration:
https://forms.office.com/e/Kr2QbbmPkY?origin=lprLink
Aim:
This Doctoral Seminar Series is organized as part of the initiative of CEU DI to set up an Observatory on Welfare and Democracy involving scholars to investigate polarization, the rise of third-wave autocracy, and its complex relationship with social policy programs and welfare states globally. In addition to doctoral students, MA students and interested scholars are also encouraged to apply. The Seminar Series is fully online.
The 12-occasion, full-remote Seminar Series will be organized in the Winter-Spring term of 2026. Its central aim is to foster young researchers’ interest and involvement in studying democracy, autocracy and welfare. While the first, pilot Seminar Series will be organized outside of official curricula, the mid-term aim is to incorporate the course into the official curricula of one of the participating universities.
Target groups include primarily postgraduate students of political science, sociology, policy studies anthropology in Europe, the Americas and the global South. Graduate students, as well as interested scholars are also welcome to attend the lectures. In Europe, focus will be placed on including students via CIVICA network universities. The Seminar Series pays special attention to attract talented young scholars from the global South.
Rationale:
In the twenty-first century, with the rise of third wave of autocracy and polarizing populist forces, the welfare-democracy nexus has become profoundly unsettled. Studies from Western Europe and other regions signaled enduring tensions between redistribution, social control, and democratization are suggesting a more complex nexus than the dominant idea of welfare as a democratizing force (e.g. Gingich 2023; Rathgeb 2024). Meanwhile, expansive and innovative welfare developments are occurring in some of the emerging economies and hybrid political regimes (e.g. Garai 2017; Yörük 2022, 2023; Szikra and Öktem 2023). The mainstream Western welfare state paradigm assumes a positive relationship between democratic development and expansion of social rights (Marshall 1953; Esping-Andersen 1990). The seminar series
revisits this assumption and opens new avenues of conceptualization of the welfare-democracy nexus, also highlighting some of the important, intersecting dimensions of gender and ethnicity. This series of lectures will provide space for established and young scholars from all over the world to meet and discuss economic and social policies under the rise of third-wave autocracies and scrutinize how autocratizers (mis)use social policies and issues around care for popularizing themselves.
Learning outcome:
By revisiting the relationship between democracy and welfare the seminar series will advance students’ theoretical understanding of how the political regime type shapes the design, distribution, and political uses of social policies, and conversely, how welfare design affects democratic or autocratic trajectories. Diverse political regime types will be contrasted and various policy instruments scrutinized, including conditional cash transfers (CCTs), workfare programs, care regimes, healthcare migration, and gender-based violence policies. The seminar builds on the active involvement of students, builds on their knowledge and experiences. The contributors will
encourage early career researchers to conduct high quality research in the field of welfare
and democracy in varied geopolitical settings.
Collaborators:
The pilot Seminar Series on Welfare and Democracy invites scholars who are in the forefront of studying welfare, democracy, and autocratization. Some of them have been also working on a Special Issue on the theme for the Journal of European Social Policy. Contributors include senior and junior (postdoctoral) scholars, affiliated with universities and research institutes in Europe, US, Canada, India, Latin America etc.
Lectures:
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Feb 25, Philip Rathgeb (University of Edinburgh), How the Radical Right Has Changed Capitalism and Welfare in Europe and the USA – More info
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March 4, Dorottya Szikra (CEU), Illiberal Welfare States in Europe and its Periphery – More info
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March 11, Daniel Béland et al. (McGill University), Social Policy Development in Authoritarian, Semi-Authoritarian, and Democratic Regimes: Comparing Long-Term Care Systems in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan – More info
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March 18, Linda J. Cook (Brown University), Immigration, Democracy and the Rise of Right Politics in Europe – More info
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April 1, Anirvan Chowdhury (University of Lousiville), Parties against Democracy: How Ruling Parties Subvert Inclusion to Entrench Dominance in India – More info
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April 8, Angelo Panaro (FAU), Political Regimes and Social Performance in the Age of Autocratization – More info
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April 15, Erdem Yoruk (University of Koc), The Contentious Politics of the Welfare State in the Global South – More info
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April 22, Candelaria Garay (Cornell University) & Emilia Simison (Queen Mary University of London), Democratic Responsiveness and Social Policy: Evidence from Latin America – More info
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April 29, Eva Fodor (CEU), Carefare: How Ethno-Nationalist Pronatalism Changes the Logic of Social Citizenship – More info
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May 6, Andrea Krizsan (CEU), Conny Roggeband (University of Amsterdam), Reconfiguring Collaborative Governance under Autocratization: Civil Society Exclusion and Policy Capture in Domestic Violence Policy – More information
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May 13, Alvaro Comin (University of Sao Paulo), The scramble for the public budget. Democracy, social welfare and the never-ending threat of autocracy in Brazil – POSTPONED
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May 20, Yamini Aiyar (Brown Univeristy), Techno-Patrimonial Welfarism: How technology enabled welfarism is shaping electoral choices, while undermining democratic accountability – More information
Registration Link: https://forms.office.com/e/Kr2QbbmPkY?origin=lprLink
