Understanding and Rethinking the Welfare State Cluster

One of the dominant features of the last 100-150 years of historical development is the welfare state. Starting out in Northern Europe in the late 19th Century, the idea of the state being (more or less) responsible for the welfare, health and well-being of its citizens have spread globally. The welfare state has become a key characteristic of modern states and in some cases like the Nordic countries it even constitutes national identity and affects most parts of society. The role of the state in society has always been contested – and still is today. Today, the future of the welfare state is perhaps the most salient political issue in the industrialized world, and questions on social rights and just institutions remain of uttermost importance globally.

Understanding and rethinking the Welfare State aims at research on the past and future development of welfare states. We believe understanding of the complex political, social, cultural, technological, and economic processes leading welfare states of today is the precondition for better decisions on tomorrow’s welfare states.

The overarching goal for the initiative is to better understand and rethink welfare states and through this initiative by bringing together different supplementary skills across SDU to:

1) expand international cooperation and external visibility of SDU welfare research

2) develop innovative cross-disciplinary welfare-related research projects and publications

3) contribute to understanding and solving major societal challenges.

The cluster combines a range of topics related to understanding the welfare state in modern societies such as gender relations, the role and regulation of families, migration and ethnic relations, the politics of the welfare state, inequality, health, aging, digitalization, education and life-long learning, and technology etc.

Research on welfare states and welfare policies is compartmentalized within specific academic disciplines (mostly social sciences and humanities). However, SDU and DIAS holds a unique position to develop innovative cross-disciplinary welfare research – and to expand inter-disciplinarity also into domains such as public health, new technology, climate sustainability.

The cluster is organized around a group of DIAS-researchers with a strong track record of working across disciplines and with an international network including leading scholars around the globe. DIAS Cluster: Understanding and rethinking the Welfare State will be open for SDU colleagues. Participating DIAS researchers represents several relevant groups around the university. Hence, the cluster will contribute to bridgebuilding between DIAS and the broader SDU – as well as strengthen the impact of existing groups.

The Cluster is coordinated by professors Anne-Marie Mai and Klaus Petersen.

Activities will be co-organized with the participants. The group of participants will meet for planning and business once pr. semester. DIAS Cluster: Understanding and Rethinking the Welfare State will coordinate existing research initiatives and for the development of new cross-disciplinary initiatives in terms of workshops, discussions, publications, funding applications etc. The cluster has special focus on facilitating research careers for young researchers.

Plan for activities will be developed by the participants.