SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

SP400 INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL AND PUBLIC POLICY

Michaelmas Term (Half Unit) 2020.

Q&A Session | ONLINE | Mondays – 14:00-14:30 (Timetabled 14:00-15:00 to account for technical
issues) Pre-recorded lecture will be available on the Friday before the Q&A)

Wk Q&A date Teacher Topic

1 28 Sep SK & IS Global Changes and Policy Challenges: what is International Social
and Public Policy (ISPP)?
2 7 Oct LP Analysing the Ideas and Goals of ISPP
3 14 Oct IS Analysing ISPP Institutions and Instruments
4 21 Oct TF Analysing Governance and Welfare Politics in ISSP
5 28 Oct TF Analysing Continuity and Change in ISPP
6 Reading Week
7 11 Nov HS Analysing Social Positions and Structural Inequality in ISPP
8 18 Nov TF Application 1: Social Protection around the World
9 25 Nov AW Application 2: Investing in Human Capital: between the Public
and Private in Education
10 02 Dec DL Application 3: Power, Participation and Voice in ISPP in
Development Contexts
11 9 Dec AO Application 4: Government Policy Responses to the Coronavirus
Pandemic

Seminars start in week 2 (Membership of seminar groups and sub-groups to be provided by the Social
Policy administration teams).

Course Director: Dr Sunil Kumar, OLD.2.24, email s.kumar@lse.ac.uk

MSc Programme Office, OLD.2.48, email socialpolicy.msc@lse.ac.uk

Lecturers
SK: Sunil Kumar
IS: Isabel Shutes
LP: Lucinda Platt
TF: Timo Fleckenstein
HS: Hakan Seckinelgin
AW: Anne West
DL: David Lewis
AO: Adam Oliver

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Course Aims

This course engages with key social and public policy challenges facing states and citizens across the
world. It introduces students to core issues, concepts, actors and debates shaping our understanding
of social and public policy, its drivers and impacts. It outlines the questions raised by efforts to
ensure a healthy, educated and productive population, to protect those without other means of
support, and to reduce inequalities of e.g. gender, class, and ethnicity. It discusses diverse policy
approaches to these issues, their ideological underpinnings, and the varying configurations of local,
national and international actors involved within the realms of state, market, civil society and family.
The course explores applications of key theories and concepts to a range of ‘real life’ policy domains
and to varied country contexts. The course is informed by an international and comparative approach
that considers both rich and poor country contexts and international dimensions and locates these
within a historical understanding of both national and global processes.

Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Evaluate critically competing goals within ISPP and identify those competing goals in real-life
areas of social and public policy across the world
• Analyse key institutions at local, national and international levels which make up welfare
systems and evaluate the many and complex ways in which these inter-relate
• Synthesise social and public policy theories to construct critical arguments on political
processes and power relations which are endemic in real life areas of ISPP.

COURSE TEACHING

Lectures and Q&A

All lectures are pre-recorded and will be made available on the Friday of the week preceding the 30
minute Q&A. There will be an online 30 minute Q&A session on the Monday of each week (for
example, the lecture for week 1 will be available on Friday of week 0 and the Q&A will take place on
Monday, week 1 at 14:00). The Q&A has been timetabled to take place between 14:00-15:00 to
accommodate any technical glitches and will start at 14:00.

Seminars
Beyond the weekly pre-recorded lecture and the Q&A, students will attend a weekly seminar for
this course, starting in Week 2. Seminars will be in COVID-19 secure small groups of about 8
students, which will be further subdivided into sub-groups of 4 students. Each student will explore
the readings relating to the previous week’s lecture. Each lecture will suggest activities that the sub-
groups will undertake and present in the seminars. This will provide an opportunity for lively and
interesting co-operative learning among classmates from diverse backgrounds.

Seminar participation is not-assessed but it will encourage students to think critically about lecture
content, ensuring good preparation for work that is formally assessed on the course. Through
seminar participation you are expected to develop your skills in articulating ideas and information to
the rest of the group, and to improve your ability to discuss issues.

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Course Readings
All students are strongly urged to do some reading on and thinking about each weekly topic for
the course and to be prepared to discuss in seminars the reading they have done. The reading list
for the course comprises both ‘essential’ and ‘further’ readings each week. Students are not
expected to read the entire reading list, and indeed they may find useful material not on
the reading list. However, students are expected to read the core readings each week. It is also
strongly recommended that students read in greater depth when preparing for a course
assignment on a particular topic.

ASSESSMENT

Formative
In preparation for the SP400 online take-home exam, students are expected to complete a 1200
word due on Thursday of Week 9 in the Michaelmas Term (28th November 2019 at 12 noon). The
formative essay will be non-assessed; however, students will receive individual feedback from
seminar leaders on their performance and on areas for possible improvement. Titles for the essays
should be drawn from the weekly seminar ‘guiding questions’.

Summative
The course is assessed on the basis of a take-home assignment in the Summer Term. This exam will
test students’ understanding of key concepts and literature from across the course. It will be split
into two sections – A and B. Section A will comprise questions drawn from the first six topics on the
course; section B will comprise questions drawn from the remaining topics. Students must answer
two questions and at least one of these must be from Section A.

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Lecture 1: Global Changes and Policy Challenges: What is International Social and Public Policy
Isabel Shutes and Sunil Kumar

This lecture will provide an introduction to International Social and Public Policy (ISPP) as a multi-
disciplinary field of study. It will consider how social and public policies across the world are always
seeking to respond to key global challenges of our time which threaten human rights and social
citizenship, such as growing inequality, technological change, demographic change and climate
change.

Guiding question:
To what extent is it reasonable to suggest that ‘international social and public policies are more
important today than ever before’? What challenges are there to consider?

Essential Readings
Lewis, D. (2017) ‘Should we pay more attention to South-North learning?’, Human Service
Organisations: Management, Leadership and Governance, 41, 4, 327-331.
Pailey, R.N. (2020) ‘De-centring the “White Gaze” of Development’, Development and Change 51(3):
729–745.
Williams, F. (2016) ‘Critical Thinking in Social Policy: The Challenges of Past, Present and Future’, Social
Policy and Administration, 50, 6, 628-647.

Further readings
Atkinson, A.B. (2015) Inequality: What Can Be Done? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Especially Chapter 1 ‘Setting the Scene’ and ‘The Way Forward’.
Beland, D., Shoyama, J., Mahon, R. (2016) Advanced Introduction to Social Policy. Edward Elgar.
Introduction and Chapter 1.
Cairney, P. (2012) Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan. Chapters 1-3.
Castles, F., Liebfried, S., Lewis, J., Obinger, H., Pierson, C. (eds) (2011) The Oxford Handbook of the
Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pages 3-14 and Chapters 5 and 6.
Dean, H. (2012) Social Policy – Second Edition. Cambridge: Polity. Chapter 1.
Esping-Andersen, G. (ed) (1996) Welfare States in Transition: National Adaptation in Global
Economies. London: Sage. Chapter 1.
Faist, T. (2016) ‘Cross-Border Migration and Social Inequalities’, Annual Review of Sociology, 42, 323-
346.
Farnsworth, K., Irving, Z. (2015) (eds) Social Policy in Times of Austerity: Global Economic Crisis and the
New Politics of Welfare. Bristol: Policy Press.
Garland, D. (2016) The Welfare State: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Glenn, J. (2009) ‘Welfare spending in an era of globalization: the North-South divide’,
International Relations, 23, 1, 27-50.
Hill, M., Varone F. (2017) The Public Policy Process: Seventh Edition. Routledge. Chapter 1
‘Studying the Policy Process’. [NB: earlier editions of this book chapter are also fine]
Hoppe, R. (2011) The Governance of Problems: Puzzling, Powering, Participation. Bristol: Policy Press.
Chapter 1.

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Midgeley, J., Piachaud, D. (2011) (eds) Colonialism and Welfare: Social Policy and the British
Imperial Legacy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2.
Mkandawire, T. (ed) (2004) Social Policy in a Development Context. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan. Chapter 1.
Titmuss, R.M. (1974) Social Policy. London: Allen and Unwin. Chapters 1 and 2.
Yeates, N. (ed) (2014) Understanding Global Social Policy. Bristol: Policy Press. Chapter 1.

Lecture 2 (Week 2): Analysing the Ideas and Goals of ISPP

Lucinda Platt

This lecture offers an introduction to different positions on the goals of social and public policies,
their historical and ideological underpinnings, and different normative positions on the role of the
state. The emphasis is on the way ideas shape - and are shaped by - specific institutional
configurations, and how they are reworked to justify specific policy actions and interventions. The
first part focuses on some key ways that the role of the state and social policy has been represented,
while the second part focuses on the reception and application of particular ideas.

Guiding question
Can the goals of social policy be usefully characterised according to particular theories?

Essential readings
Caldwell, B. 2020. The Road to Serfdom after 75 Years. Journal of Economic Literature, 58 (3): 720-
48.
Gough, I. (2004) ”Welfare regimes in development contexts: a global and regional analysis” In I.
Gough and G.D. Wood (eds.) Insecurity and welfare regimes in Asia, Africa, and Latin America: social
policy in development contexts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Béland, D. (2005) Ideas and Social Policy: An Institutionalist Perspective. Social Policy &
Administration, 39: 1-18.

Further Readings
Beland, D., Shoyama, J., Mahon, R. (2016) Advanced Introduction to Social Policy. Edward Elgar.
Chapters 1-3.
Barr, N, (2012) The Economics of the Welfare State – Fifth Edition. Chapter 2 - Political Theory:
Social Justice and the State.
Castles, F., Liebfried, S., Lewis, J., Obinger, H., Pierson, C. (eds) (2011) The Oxford Handbook of the
Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapters 3 & 4.
Crouch, C. (2011) The Strange Non-Death of Neo-Liberalism. Malden, MA: Polity.
Daly, M. (2011) Welfare. Cambridge: Polity. Chapters 3 & 4.
Dworkin, R. (1981) ‘What is Equality? Part I: Equality of Welfare’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 10,
3, 185-246. Especially sections I & II.
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity. Chapters 1-
3. [NB: helpful extract also reprinted in Pierson et al’s ‘Welfare State Reader’]

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Fraser, N. (2008) Scales of Justice: Reframing Political Space in a Globalizing World. Cambridge:
Polity. Chapter 2.
Fukuyama, F. (1989) ‘The End of History?’ The National Interest, 16, 3-18.
Gough, I., Wood, G. (2004) Insecurity and Welfare Regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America:
Social Policy in Development Contexts. Cambridge University Press.
Jenson, J. (2010) ‘Diffusing Ideas for After Neoliberalism: The Social Investment Perspective in
Europe and Latin America’, Global Social Policy, 10, 1, 59-84.
Lister, R. (2010) Understanding Theories and Concepts in Social Policy. Bristol: Policy Press.
Chapter 6 and 7.
Lister, R. (2010) Understanding Theories and Concepts in Social Policy. Bristol: Policy Press.
Chapters 1, 2 and 8.
Marshall, T.H. (1950) ‘Citizenship and Social Class’ in Pierson, C., Castles, F.G., Naumann, I. (eds)
(2014) The Welfare State Reader – Third Edition. Cambridge: Polity.
Pierson, C., Castles, F.G., Naumann, I. (eds) (2014) The Welfare State Reader – Third Edition.
Cambridge: Polity. Useful chapters by Offe, Hayek, Murray, showing divergent perspectives on the
welfare state (see the sections ‘Perspectives on the Left’ and ‘Responses from the Right’)
Williams, F. (2016) ‘Critical Thinking in Social Policy: The Challenges of Past, Present and Future’,
Social Policy and Administration, 50, 6, 628-647.

Lecture 3 (Week 3): Analysing ISPP Institutions and Instruments

Isabel Shutes

This lecture will introduce the key policy instruments – financing, provision and regulation –
deployed by social and public policy makers across the world in order to meet ISPP goals. The lecture
will additionally introduce the primary institutions which are the building blocks of overarching
‘systems of welfare’ – the state, the market, civil society and the family – and their complexities.

Guiding question
How public or private are our welfare institutions? Does it matter?

Essential readings
Powell, M. (2007) Understanding the Mixed Economy of Welfare. Bristol: Policy Press. Chapter 1.
Kabeer, N., Cook, S. (2000) ‘Revisioning social policy in the South: challenges and concepts’, IDS
Bulletin, 31, 4, 1-18.
Eikenberry, A. (2009) ‘Refusing the market: A democratic discourse for voluntary and non-profit
organisations’, Non-profit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 38, 4, 582-596.
Tronto, J. (2001) 'Who cares? Public and private caring and the rethinking of citizenship' in
Hirschmann, N.J., Liebert, U. (eds) Women and Welfare: Theory and Practice in the US and Europe.

Further readings
Barr, N. (2012) The Economics of the Welfare State – Fifth Edition. Chapter 3 – Economic Theory 1:
State Intervention (NB: there is a helpful non-technical summary at the end of the chapter).
Clarke, J., Newman, M. (1997) The Managerial State. London: Sage. Chapters 1-3.

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Daly, M. (2011) Welfare. Cambridge: Polity. Chapter 6.

Deacon, B. (2014) ‘Global and regional social governance’ in Yeates, N. (ed) Understanding Global
Social Policy. Bristol: Policy Press.
Flaherty, J. (2016) No More Heroes: Grassroots Challenges to the Saviour Mentality. Chico, CA: AK
Press.
Gingrich, J. (2011) Making Markets in the Welfare State: the Politics of Varying Market Reforms.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1-3.
Glennerster, H. (2009) Understanding the Finance of Welfare: What Welfare Costs and How to Pay
for it. Bristol: Policy Press. Chapters 1-3.
Harris, B. (2010) ‘Voluntary action and the state in historical perspective’, Voluntary Sector Review,
1, 1, 25-40.
Howell, J., Pearce, J. (2001) Civil Society and Development: A Critical Exploration. London: Lynne
Rienner. Chapters 1 and 4.
Kerlin, J. (2010) 'A comparative analysis of the global emergence of social enterprise', Voluntas, 21,
2, 162-179.
Lewis, J. (2004) ‘The state and the third sector in modern welfare states: independence,
instrumentality and partnerships’ in Evers, A., Laville, J-L. (eds) The Third Sector in Europe.
Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Pahl, J. (2011) 'The family and welfare' in Baldock, J. et al (eds) Social Policy – Fourth Edition. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Powell, M. (ed) Understanding the Mixed Economy of Welfare. Bristol: Policy Press. Chapters 9 and
10.
Smith, S., Le Grand, J., Propper, C. (2008) The Economics of Social Problems – Fourth edition.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Chapters 1 and 10.

Lecture 4 (Week 4): Analysing Governance and Welfare Politics in ISSP

Timo Fleckenstein

This lecture will explore the political dynamics in social policy-making, looking at different actors in
the political process and their power to shape welfare reforms. This includes the study of political
parties but also organized interests (such as trade unions and business), in addition to unelected
officials in government bureaucracies. Who sits in the “driving seat” of social policy”?

Essential Readings
Amenta, E. (2003) What We Know about the Development of Social Policy. In: J. Mahoney and D.
Rueschemeyer (eds.), Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 91-130.
Myles, J. and J. Quadagno (2002) Political Theories of the Welfare State. Social Service Review 76:
34-57

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Further Readings
Castles, F.G. et al., eds. (2010) The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Dryzek, J.S. and P. Dunleavy (2009) Theories of the Democratic State. Basingstoke: Palgrave
(Chapters 1 and 6)
Estevez-Abe, Margarita et al. (2001) Social Protection and the Formation of Skills: A Reinterpretation
of the Welfare State’, in P. Hall and D Soskice (eds) Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional
Foundations of Comparative Advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Hudson, J. and S. Lowe (2009) Understanding the Policy Process. Bristol: Policy Press.
Kennett, P. (ed.) (2004) A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Pierre, J. and B.G. Peters (2000) Governance, Politics and the State. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Pierson, P. (2000) Three Worlds of Welfare State Research. Comparative Political Studies 33: 791-
821.

Lecture 5 (Week 5): Analysing Continuity and Change in ISPP

Timo Fleckenstein

This lecture provides frameworks for analysing continuity and change in International Social and
Public Policy. Path dependence theory, which enjoys great prominence in the field, emphasises that
social and public policies tend to develop along established trajectories, displaying considerable
resistance to paradigmatic change. This literature has been criticised for an inherent bias to stability,
and we review different approaches that seek to address this stability bias of path dependence
theory. Recent contributions in the literature emphasise the importance of ideas and discourse in
social and public policy changing. We conclude with assessing welfare states’ capacity to ‘learn’ in
order to better cope with socio-economic and socio-demographic challenges.

Guiding question:
Can welfare states adapt to changes in society and the economy?

Essential readings
Hall, P.A. (1993) ‘Policy Paradigms, Social Learning and the State: The Case of Economic Policymaking
in Britain’, Comparative Politics, 24, 3, 275-96.
Streeck, W. Thelen, K. (2005) ‘Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies’ in Streeck, W.,
Thelen, K. (eds) Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
And for the seminar, please also read one of the following two readings exemplifying the continuity
and change controversy in analyses of welfare capitalism:
Fleckenstein, T., Lee, S.C. (2017) ‘The Politics of Labor Reform in Coordinated Welfare Capitalism:
Comparing Sweden, Germany, and South Korea’, World Politics, 69, 1, 144-183.
Thelen, K. (2012) ‘Varieties of Capitalism: Trajectories of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social
Solidarity’, Annual Review of Political Science, 15, 1, 137-59.

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Further Readings
Béland, D., Powell, M. (2016) ‘Continuity and Change in Social Policy’, Social Policy and
Administration, 50, 2, 129-47.
Béland, D., Cox, R.H. (2016) ‘Ideas as coalition magnets: coalition building, policy entrepreneurs, and
power relations’, Journal of European Public Policy, 23, 3, 428-445.
Béland, D., Cox, R.H. (2011) Ideas and Politics in Social Science Research. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Campbell, J.L. (2002) ‘Ideas, Politics, and Public Policy’, Annual Review of Sociology, 28, 1, 21-38.
Dolowitz, D.P., Marsh, D. (2000) ‘Learning from Abroad: The Role of Policy Transfer in Contemporary
Policy-Making’, Governance, 13, 1, 5-23.
Ebbinghaus, B. (2005) ‘Can Path Dependence Explain Institutional Change? Two Approaches in
Applied Welfare State Reform’, MPIfG Discussion Paper 2. Download at
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/19916/1/dp05-2.pdf
Hall, P.A. (1989) The Political Power of Economic Ideas: Keynesianism across Nations. Princeton:
Princeton University Press.
Jacobs, A.M. (2011) Governing for the Long Term: Democracy and the Politics of Investment. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Knoepfel, P., Kissling-Näf, I. (1998) ‘Social learning in policy networks’, Policy and Politics, 26, 1, 343-
363.
Lindblom, C.E. (1959) ‘The Science of ‘Muddling Through’, Public Administration Review, 19, 2, 79-
88.
Mahoney, J. Thelen, K. (2010) ‘A Theory of Gradual Institutional Change’ in Mahoney, J., Thelen, K.
(eds) Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
May, P.J. (1992) ‘Policy Learning and Failure’, Journal of Public Policy, 12, 4, 331-354.
Pierson, P. (2004) Politics in Time: History, Institutions, and Social Analysis. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Pierson, P. (2000) ‘Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics’, American
Political Science Review, 94, 2, 251-267.
Rose, R. (1991) ‘What is Lesson-Drawing?’ Journal of Public Policy, 11, 1, 3-30.
Schmidt, V.A. (2008) ‘Discursive Institutionalism: The Explanatory Power of Ideas and Discourse,’
Annual Review of Political Science, 11, 1, 303-326.
Thelen, K. Steinmo, S. (1992) ‘Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics’ in Steinmo, S.,
Thelen, K., Longstreth, F. (eds) Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative
Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Lecture 6 (Week 7): Analysing Social Positions and Structural Inequality in ISPP
Hakan Seckinelgin

This lecture examines how structural divisions are affected by and affect the formulation and
implementation of social and public policy. It discusses how different vectors of identity, including
class, disability, gender, race, sexuality, etc. shape people’s experiences and welfare needs. The
lecture engages with the concepts of legibility and in/visibility and how these affect policy
development. The lecture focuses on a specific policy field – international HIV and AIDS policies and
their implementation – to highlight how structural inequalities become reinforced in this domain.

Guiding question:
Why should policy makers take intersectionality into account when designing social and public
policies?

Essential readings
Manuel, T. (2006) ‘Envisioning the Possibilities for a Good Life: Exploring the Public Policy
Implications of Intersectionality Theory’, Journal of Women, Politics and Policy, 28, 3-4, 173-203.
Philbin, M; Hirsch, JS; Wilson, PA; Thanh Ly, A; Giang LM; Parker, RG (2018) Structural barriers to HIV
prevention among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Vietnam: Diversity, stigma, and healthcare
access’ PLOS/ONE, open access.
Sandset, Tony (2019) ‘HIV both starts and stops with me’: configuring the neoliberal sexual actor in
HIV prevention’, Sexuality and Culture, 23,2, 657-673.
Watkins-Hayes, C. (2014) ‘Intersectionality and the Sociology of HIV/AIDS: Past, Present, and Future
Research Directions’, Annual Review of Sociology, 40, 431-457.

Further readings
Augustin, L. R. (2013) Gender Equality, Intersectionality, and Diversity in Europe. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Crenshaw, K. (1991) 'Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against
Women of Color', Stanford Law Review, 43, 6, 1241-1299.
Evans, E. (2016) 'Intersectionality as feminist praxis in the UK' Women's Studies International Forum,
59, 67-75.
Hankivsky, O., Cormier, R. (2011) ‘Intersectionality and Public Policy: Some Lessons from Existing
Models’, Political Research Quarterly, 64, 1, 217-229.
Mclane-Davison, D/ (2018) ‘Cornbread, Collard Greens, and a Side of Liberation: Black Feminist
Leadership and AIDS Advocacy’, Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism r6, no. 2: 286-294.
Medie, P.A., Kang, A.J. (2018) 'Power, Knowledge and the Politics of Gender in the Global South',
European Journal of Politics and Gender, 1, 1-2, 37-53.
Nielsen, H. P. (2012) 'Joint purpose? Intersectionality in the hands of anti-racist and gender equality
activists in Europe', Ethnicities, 13, 3, 276-294.
Nixon, J., Humphreys, C. (2010) 'Marshalling the Evidence: Using Intersectionality in the
Domestic Violence Frame', Social Politics, 17, 2, 137-158.

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Ransome, Kawachi, I., Braunstein, S., Nash, D. (2016) 'Structural inequalities drive late HIV diagnosis:
The role of black racial concentration, income inequality, socioeconomic deprivation, and HIV
testing', Health and Place, 42, 148-158.
Roth, B. (2017) The Life and Death of ACT UP/LA: Anti-AIDS Activism in Los Angeles from the 1980s to
the 2000s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rousseau, S., Hudon, A.M. (2016) 'Paths towards Autonomy in Indigenous Women's
Movements: Mexico, Peru, Bolivia', Journal of Latin American Studies, 48, 1, 33-60.
Verloo, M. (2013) 'Intersectional and Cross-Movement Politics and Policies: Reflections on Current
Practices and Debates', Signs: Journal of Women in Culture & Society, 38, 4, 893-915.
Waites, M. (2017) 'LGBTI organizations navigating imperial contexts: the Kaleidoscope Trust, the
Commonwealth and the need for a decolonizing, intersectional politics', Sociological Review, 65, 4,
644–662.
Walby, S., Armstrong, J., Strid, S. (2012) 'Intersectionality: Multiple Inequalities in Social Theory',
Sociology, 42, 2, 224-240.

Lecture 7 (Week 8): Application 1 – Social Protection Around the World

Timo Fleckenstein

Poverty and inequality are central to the study of social policy. This lecture introduces the two
concepts, and briefly outlines recent developments of poverty and inequality in different parts of the
world. Social protection policies are a key instrument for reducing both poverty and inequality. We
introduce different approaches towards social protection in the Global North (e.g. Beveridgean vs.
Bismarckian models), in addition to more recent innovations in the Global South (namely,
conditional cash transfers). This discussion of different models and approaches also includes the
universal basic income, which has been presented as a radical reform of social protection in the
Global North and South. As social protection policies have huge distributional implications, they
present a highly politicised policy area. We thus conclude with an exploration of the politic of social
protection, including an examination of the interests of different policy actors.

Guiding question
Would a cross-national spread of ‘universal basic income’ initiatives be a desirable and feasible way
forward for social protection globally?

Essential readings
Jones, H. (2016) ‘More Education, Better Jobs? A Critical Review of CCTs and Brazil's Bolsa Família
Programme for Long-Term Poverty Reduction’, Social Policy and Society, 15, 3, 465-78.
Walker, R. (2005) Social Security and Welfare: Concepts and Comparisons. Maidenhead: Open
University Press. Chapters 1 and 2.
Seminar discussion this week will involve a Universal Basic Income debate based on the following:
Goulden, C. (2018) Universal Basic Income – Not the Answer to Poverty, at:
https://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/universal-basic-income-not-answer-
poverty?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxtPYBRD6ARIsAKs1XJ4fbc8MTC7N1KXk8aP4815fPdvSjHdojwVR7YXJdAR
Vrv1_Gkltp1gaAjlWEALw_wcB

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Piachaud, D. (2016) Citizen’s Income: Rights and Wrongs, at:

http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/casepaper200.pdf
Torry, M. (2018) Citizen’s Income: Both Feasible and Useful, at:
https://www.socialeurope.eu/citizens-income-feasible-useful/
For more information about Universal Basic Income, see: https://basicincome.org/

Further readings
Ballard, R. (2012) ‘Cash Transfers and the Reinvention of Development for the Poor’, Progress in
Human Geography, 37, 6, 811-821.
Barrientos, A. Hulme, D. (eds) (2008) Social Protection for the Poor and Poorest: Concepts, Policies
and Politics. London: Palgrave. (Part I Introduction)
Beramendi, P. et al. (eds) (2015) The Politics of Advanced Capitalism. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Chwalisz, C., Diamond, P. (eds) (2015) The Predistribution Agenda: Tackling Inequality and
Supporting Sustainable Growth. London: I.B. Tauris.
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Ferguson, J. (2015) Give a Man a Fish: Reflections on the New Politics of Distribution. Durham, NC:
Duke University Press.
Fleckenstein, T., Lee, S.C. (2017) ‘The Politics of Labor Reform in Coordinated Welfare Capitalism:
Comparing Sweden, Germany, and South Korea’, World Politics, 69, 1, 144-183.
Midgley, J., Piachaud, D. (eds) (2013) Social Protection, Economic Growth and Social Change: Goals
Issues and Trajectories in China, India, Brazil and South Africa. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Millar, J., Sainsbury, R. (2018) Understanding Social Security. Bristol: Policy Press.
Saad-Filho, A. (2015) ‘Social Policy for Neoliberalism: The Bolsa Família Programme in Brazil’,
Development & Change, 46, 6, 1227-1252.
Sánchez-Ancochea, D., Martínez Franzoni, J. (2014) Should Policy Aim at Having All People on the
Same Boat? The Definition, Relevance and Challenges of Universalism in Latin America.
Desigualdades: http://www.desigualdades.net/Resources/Working_Paper/70-WP- Martinez-
Ancochea-Online.pdf
Thelen, K. (2014) Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Yeates, N. (ed) (2014) Understanding Global Social Policy. Bristol: Policy Press. Chapter 8.

Relevant Reports
OECD (2015) Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries. Paris: OECD.
OECD (2015) In It Together: Why Less Inequality Benefits All. Paris: OECD.
ILO (2017) World Social Protection Report 2017-19: Universal Social Protection to Achieve the
Sustainable Development Goals. Geneva: ILO.
World Bank Group (2016) Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016: Taking on Inequality. Washington DC:
World Bank.
World Inequality Lab (2018) World Inequality Report 2018. Paris.

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Lecture 8 (Week 9) Application 2 – Investing in Human Capital – Between the Public and the
Private in Education
Anne West

The global rise of knowledge economies has led to greater than ever demand for the provision of
education at all stages of the lifecycle. However, not all have equal access even to primary and
secondary school education and there are major questions which arise regarding who ought to pay
for ‘social investment’ in human capital – governments or individuals and their families? This lecture
will illustrate how education financing is a key policy domain in which tensions and changing
balances over time between public and private welfare can be seen very clearly.

Guiding Question
Should private spending on children’s education be expected by governments? Why?

Essential Readings
Morel, N., Palier, B. Palme, J. (2012) ‘Beyond the Welfare State as We Knew it?’ in Morel, N.,
Palier, B. Palme, J. (eds) Towards a Social Investment Welfare State? Ideas, Policies and
Challenges. Bristol: Policy Press.
Tooley, J. (2013) ‘Challenging educational injustice: ‘Grassroots’ privatisation in South Asia and
sub-Saharan Africa’, Oxford Review of Education, 39, 4, 446-463.
UNESCO (2020) Global education monitoring report, 2020: Inclusion and education: all means all
(available via LSE library)

Further readings
Akyeampong, K. (2009) Revisiting Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) in Ghana,
Comparative Education, 45:2, 175-195, DOI: 10.1080/03050060902920534
Andrabi, T. Das, J. and Khwaja, A. (2008) ‘A Dime a Day: The Possibilities and Limits of Private
Schooling in Pakistan,’ Comparative Education Review 52, 3, 329-355.
https://doi.org/10.1086/588796
Baum, D.R. Abdul-Hamid, H., Wesley, H.T. (2018) ‘Inequality of Educational Opportunity: the
relationship between access, affordability and quality of private schools in Lagos, Nigeria’, Oxford
Review of Education, 44, 4, 459-475.
Bray, M., Kwo, O. (2013) ‘Behind the façade of fee-free education: shadow education and its
implications for social justice’, Oxford Review of Education, 39, 4, 480-497.
Exley, S. (2020) Selective schooling and its relationship to private tutoring: the case of South Korea,
Comparative Education, 56, 2, 218-235, DOI: 10.1080/03050068.2019.1687230
Languille, S. (2016) ‘’Affordable’ private schools in South Africa: Affordable for Whom?’ Oxford
Review of Education, 42, 5, 528-542.
Nikolai, R. (2012) ‘Towards Social Investment? Patterns of Public Policy in the OECD World’ in Morel,
N., Palier, B. Palme, J. (eds) Towards a Social Investment Welfare State? Ideas, Policies and
Challenges. Bristol: Policy Press.
Riep, C.B. (2017) ‘Making markets for low cost schooling: the devices and investments behind
Bridge international academies’, Globalisation, Societies and Education, 15, 3, 352-366.

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Singh, K. (2014) Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, ‘Privatization and the
right to education.’ Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N14/546/82/PDF/N1454682.pdf?OpenElement

Singh, R., Bangay, C. (2014) ‘Low fee private schooling in India: More Questions Than Answers?’
International Journal of Educational Development, 39, 142-150.
Srivastava, P., Noronha, C. (2016) ‘The myth of free and barrier-free access: India’s Right to
Education Act – private schooling costs and household experiences’, Oxford Review of Education, 42,
5, 561-578.
Titmuss, R.M. (2014) ‘Universalism versus Selection’ in Pierson, C., Castles, F.G., Naumann, I.K. (eds)
The Welfare State Reader. Cambridge: Polity.
Watkins, L. (2000) The Oxfam Education Report. Oxford: Oxfam.
World Bank (2006) From Schooling Access to Learning Outcomes: An Unfinished Agenda.
Washington DC: IEG/ World Bank.
Zuilkowski, S.S., Piper, B., Ong’ele, S., Kiminza, O. (2018) ‘Parents, Quality and School Choice: Why
Parents in Nairobi Choose Low-Cost Private Schools Over Public Schools in Kenya’s Free Primary
Education Era’, Oxford Review of Education, 44, 2, 258-274.

Lecture 9: Week 10 | Application 3 – Power, participation and voice in ISPP in development

contexts
David Lewis

A persistent theme international development policy – and within the analysis of policy making and
implementation processes more widely – is the problem that policy makers tend to be distant from
the realities faced by the people whose problems their policies are supposed to address. Indeed
development writer and activist Robert Chambers has argued that ‘(e)nabling people who live in
poverty to analyze their realities, articulate their priorities, and have effective voice to influence
policies, is one of the most pressing and most neglected issues of our time.’ The concepts of power
and participation are usually invoked in support of this goal, but this has proved controversial both
in theory and practice. Furthermore, there is some evidence that development agencies have
become less interested in the human and social aspects of development and more concerned with
approaching development as a technical and managerial process. This lecture explores these themes
through a combination of both practical and critical texts, and draws on the practical example of the
Bangladesh ‘reality check’ experiment.

Guiding question:
How far do concepts of participation remain useful and important for ISPP, and if they do, how can
they best be operationalised?

Essential readings
Cornwall, A. & Fujita, M. (2012). ‘Ventriloquising “the poor”? Of voices, choices and the politics of
“participatory” knowledge production’, Third World Quarterly, 33:9, 1751-1765.

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Gaventa, J. (2004). ‘From policy to power: revisiting actors, knowledge and spaces’, pp. 274-301.
Chapter 14 in Brock, K., McGee, R., & Gaventa, J. (2004) Unpacking Policy: Knowledge, Actors and
Spaces in Poverty Reduction in Uganda and Nigeria. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.
Lewis, D. (2018) ‘Peopling Policy Processes? Methodological Populism in the Bangladesh Health and
Education Sectors’. World Development. 108, pp.16-27.

Further readings
Anderson, M.B., D. Brown, & I. Jean. (2012). Time to Listen: Hearing People on the Receiving End of
International Aid. Cambridge, Massachusetts: CDA Collaborative Learning Projects.
Brock, K., McGee, R. & Gaventa, J. (2004). Unpacking Policy: Knowledge, Actors and Spaces in
Poverty Reduction in Uganda and Nigeria. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.
Cairney, P. (2016). The politics of evidence-based policy making. London: Palgrave.
Chambers, R. (1994). ‘Participatory rural appraisal (PRA): Challenges, potentials and paradigm,’
World Development, 22, 10, pp. 1437-1454.
Greene, J. (2009). ‘Evidence and “proof” and evidence as “inkling”’. Chapter 8 in What Counts as
Credible Evidence in Applied Research and Evaluation Practice? edited by Stewart I. Donaldson,
Christina A. Christe and Melvin M. Mark, pp.153-167. London: Sage.
Guijt, I. and Shah, M.K. (1998). The Myth of Community: Gender issues in participatory development.
London: Practical Action Publishers.
Jupp, D. (2007). ‘Views of the Poor’. Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) Notes Vol. 57.
McGee, R. (2004). ‘Unpacking policy: actors, knowledge and spaces’, in Unpacking Policy:
Knowledge, Actors and Spaces in Poverty Reduction in Uganda and Nigeria edited by Karen Brock,
Rosemary McGee and John Gaventa, Kampala: Fountain Publishers.
Hickey, S. and Mohan, G. (eds 2004) Participation: from tyranny to transformation?: exploring new
approaches to participation in development. London: Zed Books.
Mosse, D. and Lewis, D. (2006) ‘Theoretical approaches to brokerage and translation in
development’. Chapter 1 in D. Lewis and D. Mosse (eds) Development Brokers and Translators: The
Ethnography of Aid and Agencies. Bloomfield CT: Kumarian Press.
Mowles, C. (2013). ‘Evaluation, complexity, uncertainty – theories of change and some alternatives’.
Chapter 3 in Wallace, Tina and Fenella Porter (2013 eds) Aid, NGOs and the Realities of Women’s
Lives. Rugby: Practical Action.
Narayan, D. with Patel, R., Schafft, K., Rademacher, A. & Koch-Schulte, S. (1999) Can Anyone Hear
Us? Voices From 47 Countries. Washington DC: World Bank.
Parkhurst, Justin (2017). The Politics of Evidence: From Evidence-Based Policy to the Good
Governance of Evidence. Routledge Studies in Governance and Public Policy. London: Routledge.
Wallace, T. and Porter, F. (2013 eds). Aid, NGOs and the Realities of Women’s Lives: A Perfect Storm.
Rugby: Practical Action.
Wedel, J., Shore, C., Feldman, G. and Lathrop, S. (2005). ‘Towards an anthropology of public policy’.
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 600, (July): 30–51.

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SP400 Reading list – 2020-21

Lecture 10 (Week 11): Government Policy Responses to the Coronavirus Pandemic

Adam Oliver

This lecture will consider the policies that a number of countries have adopted to tackle the
coronavirus pandemic, which have ranged from very authoritarian, to quite liberal, to even denial-
based. The lecture will consider the reasoning that different governments gave to the strategies they
pursued, and the necessary trade-offs that have to be made with each of them. There will be some
consideration of the role that behavioural science has had in forming the policy response,
particularly in England (although similar reasonings were also used elsewhere), and the merits and
demerits of the response being led by politicians or experts. Students will be expected to come with
a view, based on their readings, of what they each think the most appropriate strategy was and is,
going forward.

Readings:

Adam organised a very large number of country/region reports on responses to Covid, some of
which will be developed to form a special issue of a journal early next year. Student are asked to
read a selection of reports from England, Sweden, Belgium, Taiwan, Germany, France, Italy,
Australia, India and the US.

The link to all the reports is: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/health-economics-policy-

and-law/hepl-blog-series-covid19-pandemic

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