Place	Haus der Wissenschaft Sandstr. 4/5 28195 Bremen
Time	6 pm - 8 pm
Organiser	SOCIUM Forschungszentrum Ungleichheit und Sozialpolitik, Universität Bremen
Contact Person	Prof. Dr. Kerstin Martens; Prof. Dr. Michael Windzio
Partic. Organisation	Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen

Higher education expanded rapidly worldwide after World War II. At the beginning of the period, there were many doubts about its contribution to development. These negative assessments receded over time, and changed to positive ones with neoliberal global hegemony: Education was central to the model, and expanded very rapidly. In particular, many social effects of higher education were reconceptualized as economically valuable "service sector" activities. Recent global attacks on neoliberalism – and on its higher educational component – may alter these trends, weakening and redirecting educational foci.

Place	Unicom building Room: 7.1020 Bremen
Time	9 am - 1 pm
Contact Person	Dr. Johanna Kuhlmann; Prof. Dr. Tobias ten Brink
Lecture Series	Internal Events

The workshop will bring together CRC researchers in order to discuss papers for a planned Special Issue on causal mechanisms and transnational social policy dynamics.

Place	Unicom building Room: 3.3380 Mary-Somerville-Straße 3 28359 Bremen
Time	2.15 pm - 3.45 pm
Organiser	Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS); SOCIUM Forschungszentrum Ungleichheit und Sozialpolitik, Universität Bremen; Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Lecture Series	Jour Fixe
Semester	WiSe 2019/20

Place	Unicom building Room: 7.2210 Mary-Somerville-Straße 7 28359 Bremen
Time	2 pm - 4 pm
Organiser	Prof. Dr. Delia González de Reufels; Dr. Teresa Huhle; Prof. Dr. Klaus Schlichte; Dr. Alex Veit
Contact Person	Dr. Alex Veit
Organisation	Institut für Geschichtswissenschaft, Universität Bremen; Institut für Interkulturelle und Internationale Studien (InIIS), Universität Bremen; Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Semester	WiSe 2019/20

The Transnational & Area Studies-Colloquium is a new venue for interdisciplinary debate on pertinent questions of transnational scope and area studies relevance. Scholars and students meet on a monthly basis to discover new approaches and joint research interests. The colloquium is open to the interested public.

Subscribe to the mailing list for regular updates and pre-circulated readings: https://mailman.zfn.uni-bremen.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tas-colloquium

Place	Unicom building Room: 3.3380 Mary-Somerville-Straße 5 28359 Bremen
Time	2.15 pm - 3.45 pm
Organiser	SOCIUM Forschungszentrum Ungleichheit und Sozialpolitik, Universität Bremen
Organisation	Prof. Dr. Frank Nullmeier
Partic. Organisation	Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS); Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Lecture Series	Jour Fixe
Semester	WiSe 2019/20

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) pro-claimed the equality of all human beings in dignity and rights. The right to social security, however, has been tak-en more seriously only since the 2000s, through calls for "Social Security for All" and "Leaving no-one behind". The book investigates a major response, social cash transfers to the poor. The idea of simply giving money to the poor had been rejected by all major development organisations, but since the early 2000s, social cash transfers have mushroomed in the global South and on agendas of international organisations. How come? What programmes have emerged in which countries? How inclusive are the programmes? What models have international organiza-tions devised? Based on unique quantitative and qualitative data and on newly created concepts and indicators, the book takes stock of all identifiable cash transfers in all Southern countries and of the views of all major international organisations.

The volume argues that cash transfers reflect broader changes: new understandings of development, of human rights, of global risks, of the social responsibility of governments, and of universalism. Social cash transfers have turned the poor from objects of charity into rights-holders and agents of their own lives and of development. A repertoire of cash transfers has evolved that has enhanced social citizenship, but is limited by weak political commitments.The book also contributes to a general theory of social policy in development contexts, through a constructivist sociological approach that complements the dominant approaches from welfare economics and political economy and includes a theory of social assistance.

Place	Unicom building Room: 3.3380 Mary-Somerville-Straße 3 28359 Bremen
Time	9 am - 12.30 pm
Organiser	SOCIUM Forschungszentrum Ungleichheit und Sozialpolitik, Universität Bremen; Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Contact Person	Prof. Dr. Michael Windzio

The workshop will be given by Prof. John W. Meyer, who will be Hans-Koschnick-Professor at SOCIUM and the CRC 1342.

Prof. Meyer will introduce the topic. After a coffee break we will then have the opportunity to discuss up to 6 doctoral dissertation projects in which New Institutionalism as a theoretical approach may be important. 

Doctoral students are generally welcome to participate and to benefit from the discussions.

Place	Unicom building Room: 7.1020 Mary-Somerville-Straße 7 28359 Bremen
Time	2.15 pm - 3.45 pm
Organiser	Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS); SOCIUM Forschungszentrum Ungleichheit und Sozialpolitik, Universität Bremen; Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Contact Person	Prof. Dr. Delia González de Reufels
Lecture Series	Jour Fixe
Semester	WiSe 2019/20

Place	Haus der Wissenschaft Sandstraße 4/5 28195 Bremen
Time	8.30 am - 5.00 pm
Contact Person	Dr. Johanna Kuhlmann
Organisation	Prof. Dr. Delia González de Reufels; Dr. Johanna Kuhlmann; Prof. Dr. Frank Nullmeier; Prof. Dr. Klaus Schlichte

Recent theoretical and methodological developments in the social sciences converge into the approach of "mechanism-based explanation". Originating from different disciplines such as analytical sociology, political sociology, comparative historical analysis and qualitative research in political science, mechanism-based approaches stress that phenomena cannot fully be explained by correlations between variables: Causal mechanisms are the "cogs and wheels" that scholars come across when opening the "black box" of correlations.

Despite the expanding literature on this topic, two deficits have not been resolved so far:

1. There is no convincing compilation of mechanisms that drive social and political processes. Previous proposals for a comprehensive list of mechanisms collect elements of very different scales and levels. There is no shared understanding on what level (micro, meso, macro) mechanisms should be allocated and what elements a mechanism should have to count as a mechanism.
2. There is also a lack of systematic applications of mechanism-based approaches to an entire policy field. So far, mechanism-based approaches have primarily been used in single case studies or comparative case studies with a limited scope and range. Adopting a mechanism-based approach for studying the transnational dynamics of an entire policy field might be a decisive test for the fruitfulness of mechanism-based approaches.

This conference aims to stimulate discussion on the characteristics of causal mechanisms, and to establish a closer link between these concepts and the study of social policy dynamics.

PROGRAMME

Day 1

9.00-9.30
Registration and welcome coffee

9.30-10.30
Gary Goertz, University of Notre Dame
The veil of ignorance – causal mechanism – process tracing methodology

Coffee break

10.45-12.15
Session 1: Theorizing Mechanisms (Chair: Johanna Kuhlmann)

1. Holger Straßheim, University of Bielefeld
   Transforming social policy (research): the mechanisms of micro-focusing (Discussant: Hubert Heinelt)
2. Johannes Schmitt, Martin Noltze, German Institute for Development Evaluation Causal mechanisms in evaluation: conceptual confusion, practical application and the way forward (Discussant: Heinz Rothgang)
3. Sebastian Haunss, University of Bremen
   Network mechanism driving the development of social policies (Discussant: Sarah Berens)

Lunch

13.30-14.30
Renate Mayntz, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Promise and limits of mechanism-based explanation

Coffee break

14.45-16.15
Session 2: Mechanisms of Social Policy Dynamics – Single Case Studies (Chair: Heiko Pleines)

1. Olivier Burtin, LMU München/Princeton University
   Mechanisms of veterans’ policy in the United States: A comparative overview (Discussant: Teresa Huhle)
2. Ellen van Reuler, Leiden University
   English hospices and palliative care policies as a model for the Netherlands? (Discussant: Anna Safuta)
3. Tobias ten Brink1, Armin Müller1 , Tao Liu2, 1Jacobs University Bremen, 2 University Duisburg-Essen
   Policy experimentation and elite cooperation: Causal mechanisms in the making of China’s social insurance system (Discussant: Osmany Porto de Oliveira)
4. Sarah Berens, Franziska Deeg, University of Cologne
   Moving North and coming back. Migration and social policy preferences in Mexico (Discussant: Cecilia Rossel/Florencia Antía)

Coffee break

16.45-17.45
James Mahoney, Northwestern University
Causal mechanisms and theories of causality: Three approaches

Coffee break

18.00-19.30
Session 3: Mechanisms of Social Policy Dynamics – Comparative Approaches (Chair: Klaus Schlichte)

1. Traute Meyer, University of Southampton
   Industrialism revisited - Changing kinship systems and pension reform in China and Europe (Discussant: Tao Liu)
2. Robert van Niekerk¹, Reynaldo Jiménez Guethón², ¹ University of Witwatersrand, ² University de La Habana
   Cultures of social solidarity and the public good: A reflection on South Africa and Cuba (Discussant: Armin Müller)
3. Heinz Rothgang, Karin Gottschall, Anna Safuta, Kristin Noack, Marlene Seiffarth, Greta-Marleen Storath, University of Bremen
   Migrantization of long-term care in Europe. On search of causal mechanisms (Discussant: Friederike Römer)

Conference Dinner at Ratskeller

Day 2
9.30-11.00
Session 4: Mechanisms of Social Policy Dynamics – Transnational Interdependencies (Chair: Frank Nullmeier)

1. Andreas Heinrich¹, Gulnaz Isabekova¹, Armin Müller², Heiko Pleines¹, Tobias ten Brink², ¹ University of Bremen, ² Jacobs University Bremen
   Types of international policy-related knowledge transfer. From conditionality to elaborated autonomous policy learning (Discussant: Lutz Leisering)
2. Monika Ewa Kaminska, Ertila Druga, Ante Malinar, Liva Stupele, University of Bremen
   Reforms from within or reforms from without? Defying international organizations’ agenda in healthcare reforms in Central Eastern Europe: in search of causal mechanisms (Discussant: Andreas Heinrich)
3. Friederike Römer, Jakob Henninger, University of Bremen
   Effects of migration – Synthesizing literatures on labor markets, growth and the welfare state (Discussant: Sebastian Haunss)

Coffee break

11.15-12.30
Plenary Session: Could we hope to compile a list of basic causal mechanisms? (Chair: Karin Gottschall)

Peter Starke, University of Southern Denmark
Delia González de Reufels, Johanna Kuhlmann, Frank Nullmeier, Klaus Schlichte, University of Bremen

Lunch

13.45-15.15
Session 5: Mechanisms of Social Policy Dynamics in Latin America (Chair: Delia González de Reufels)

1. Osmany Porto de Oliveira, Federal University of São Paulo
   Mechanisms for social policy diffusion: theory and evidences from the Brazilian case (Discussant: Tobias ten Brink)
2. Cecilia Rossel¹, Florencia Antía², ¹ Universidad Católica del Uruguay, ² Universidad de la República
   The politics of sanctioning the poor: Revealing causal mechanisms in Uruguay’s CCT programs (Discussant: Reynaldo Jiménez Guethón)
3. Sebastian Sirén, Stockholm University
   The Struggle over universalisation. Actors and institutions in the process towards health care reform in Bolivia (Discussant: Monika Ewa Kaminska)

Coffee break

15.30-16.30
Armando Barrientos, University of Manchester
The rise and fall of Bismarckian social policy in Latin America

Download Programmme

Place	Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen Klagenfurter Straße 8 28359 Bremen
Time	9 am - 5 pm
Contact Person	Dr. Andreas Heinrich

Call for Papers

For a combined, three-day event we invite proposals for papers on "International Knowledge Transfer in Social Policy: The Case of the Post-Soviet Region". The event takes place from 7-9 November 2019 in Bremen (Germany).

It begins with a two-day conference on "Causal Mechanisms in the Analysis of Social Policy Dynamics" in the House of Science in Bremen. Confirmed keynote speakers are: Renate Mayntz (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies), James Mahoney (Northwestern University), and Peter Starke (University of Southern Denmark).

On the third day there will be a workshop on "International knowledge transfer in social policy: The case of the post-Soviet region". Participants selected from this call are invited to join the conference and to present their papers at the third-day workshop, which takes place at the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen on 9 November 2019. It intends to complement the conference on causal mechanisms with the discussion of research on dynamics of international knowledge transfer in social policy in the post-Soviet region. Special emphasis is made on the policy fields of basic income security (alleviating poverty), health care and education.

The workshop aims to bring together approaches from political science, sociology and other relevant academic disciplines to get a more comprehensive picture of the influence of social policy concepts originating in the OECD world on reform processes in the post-Soviet region and of the role that international actors play in this knowledge transfer. The focus of invited papers should always be on the international knowledge transfer and on the domestic evaluation of these social policy concepts.

Deadline for proposals: 30 April 201

Deadline for the submission of paper proposals is 30 April 2019. In addition to a 300 word abstract, please include a brief biographical statement in your submission. Selected paper-givers will be invited by 31 May 2019. Full papers will be due 15 September 2019.

The workshop will involve around 15 scholars; early-career researchers are especially encouraged to apply. Travel expenses and accommodation costs of invited participants will be covered by the organiser. For further information on our research group, visit our website.

We plan to publish selected workshop papers in a special issue of Global Social Policy.

Paper proposals and any questions should be addressed to:
Dr Andreas Heinrich (heinrich@uni-bremen.de)

Place	Unicom building Room: 7.3280 Mary-Somerville-Straße 7 28359 Bremen
Time	2.15 pm - 3.45 pm
Organisation	Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS)
Partic. Organisation	SOCIUM Forschungszentrum Ungleichheit und Sozialpolitik, Universität Bremen; Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Lecture Series	Jour Fixe
Semester	WiSe 2019/20

The study of causal mechanisms and processes is ubiqutious in the social sciences. But there is no agreement on how this can be achieved. In this talk, I will present recent advancements in process-tracing methods as one tool to study mechanisms, discussing its relative strengths and the tradeoffs involved with detailed tracing of mechanisms as they play out in real-world cases. The talk will conclude with a discussion of the developing standards for what determines the internal and external validity of mechanism-focused case studies.

Place	Unicom building Room: 7.1020 Mary-Somerville-Straße 7 28359 Bremen
Time	2.15 pm - 3.45 pm
Organiser	Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS); SOCIUM Forschungszentrum Ungleichheit und Sozialpolitik, Universität Bremen; Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Lecture Series	Jour Fixe
Semester	WiSe 2019/20

In the era of globalised supply chains, consumption has developed into a major, geographically distant driver of various local impacts in countries producing raw materials. In my presentation, I introduce a new framework that connects spatiotemporal databases to global economic input-output models. This novel methodology is developed in the ERC-funded project ‘FINEPRINT’ (www.fineprint.global) and allows tracking of material supply chains at a high spatial detail. I present selected results of how we map the global geographical distribution of mining and agriculture on a detailed (1 km x 1 km) grid cell level and how we link these global extraction maps to spatially explicit data on related environmental impacts, taking the example of deforestation. I then illustrate how we trace raw material flows and related impacts using spatially explicit material flow models, focusing on the case of global biomass flows. The FINEPRINT framework allows robust assessments of raw material footprints and related environmental impacts as a basis for designing targeted action by policy and business to realise more sustainable product supply chains.

Place	Unicom building Room: 7.2210 Mary-Somerville-Straße 7 28359 Bremen
Time	2 pm - 4 pm
Organiser	Prof. Dr. Delia González de Reufels; Dr. Teresa Huhle; Prof. Dr. Klaus Schlichte; Dr. Alex Veit
Contact Person	Dr. Alex Veit
Organisation	Institut für Geschichtswissenschaft, Universität Bremen; Institut für Interkulturelle und Internationale Studien (InIIS), Universität Bremen; Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Semester	WiSe 2019/20

The Transnational & Area Studies-Colloquium is a new venue for interdisciplinary debate on pertinent questions of transnational scope and area studies relevance. Scholars and students meet on a monthly basis to discover new approaches and joint research interests. The colloquium is open to the interested public.

Subscribe to the mailing list for regular updates and pre-circulated readings: https://mailman.zfn.uni-bremen.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tas-colloquium

Place	Unicom Building Room: 7.1020 Mary-Somerville-Straße 7 28359 Bremen
Time	9.30 am - 4 pm (Thursday), 9:30 am - 1.30 pm (Friday)
Contact Person	Dr. Anna Safuta
Lecture Series	Equality at the CRC

Have you ever struggled with a team member, who doesn’t seem motivated? Do you sometimes wonder how to lead without formal authority? Or do you feel "stuck in the middle" between your boss and the team you are leading as a postdoc?

Leading teams in the academic context is a challenging task. It can be inspiring and stressful at times. Some insights into communication and leadership skills can make a difference, for you personally and for your team.

This one and a half day training was designed to support those in prospective leadership positions with some insights and helpful leadership approaches to expand their skill set and gain suggestions for concrete situations at hand. Some of the topics that will be covered are:

• Understanding structural aspects of leading from a "sandwich" position
• Defining and clarifying one’s role and mandate as well as expectations
• Leadership styles and Situational Leadership
• Understanding social systems and team-development
• Building a network and support system
• Handling tricky situations from real life examples

The training will consist of short inputs, lots of practical exercises and experience sharing. We strongly recommend that participants come prepared with some real life situations and questions that will serve as a basis for practice and discussions.

Participation in both days is required.

Dr. Anette Hammerschmidt is a trainer and coach in the academic field as well as in the business world with over 20 years of experience.

Her main expertise lies in leadership topics as well as organizational and team-development, intercultural cooperation and self-leadership.

Place	Unicom building Room: 7.1020 Mary-Somerville-Straße 7 28359 Bremen
Time	11.15 am - 12.45 pm
Organisation	Prof. Dr. Ulrich Mückenberger
Lecture Series	Jour Fixe
Semester	WiSe 2019/20

Social policy in general has been and still is considered mainly as an issue of collective and corporative actors organised at a national level. This holds for systems of health care, unemployment insurance or pension funds.

Concerning labour regulation there is a longer tradition of supranational and global regulations, as the examples of ILO regulations or OECD standards reveal. Nevertheless, compared to the actual degree of globalised and transnationalised social relations and interchanges of goods, information, cognitive maps and persons, the development of coordinated cross-border social policies remains quite "underdeveloped".

Based on empirical research about transnational (expert) mobility in organisations and the emerging texture of transnational labour regulation and referring to theories of global "institutional work" (W. Mayer, T. Lawrence/R. Suddaby) the presentation argues that there could be identified a transnational institution building of social policy in the field of labour regulation that differs significantly from classic forms of social policy. In order to actually "realize" these empirical tendencies, we have to fine-tune our theoretical-conceptual lenses.

Place	Unicom building Room: 7.2210 Mary-Somerville-Straße 7 28359 Bremen
Time	2 pm - 4 pm
Organiser	Prof. Dr. Delia González de Reufels; Dr. Teresa Huhle; Prof. Dr. Klaus Schlichte; Dr. Alex Veit
Contact Person	Dr. Alex Veit
Organisation	Institut für Geschichtswissenschaft, Universität Bremen; Institut für Interkulturelle und Internationale Studien (InIIS), Universität Bremen; Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Semester	WiSe 2019/20

The Transnational & Area Studies-Colloquium is a new venue for interdisciplinary debate on pertinent questions of transnational scope and area studies relevance. Scholars and students meet on a monthly basis to discover new approaches and joint research interests. The colloquium is open to the interested public.

Subscribe to the mailing list for regular updates and pre-circulated readings: https://mailman.zfn.uni-bremen.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tas-colloquium

Place	Unicom Building Room: 7.1020 Mary-Somerville-Straße 7 28359 Bremen
Time	2.15 pm - 3.45 pm
Organiser	Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS); SOCIUM Forschungszentrum Ungleichheit und Sozialpolitik, Universität Bremen; Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Lecture Series	Jour Fixe
Semester	SoSe 2019

Place	Unicom building Room: 7.2210 Mary-Somerville-Straße 7 28359 Bremen
Time	2 pm - 4 pm
Organiser	Prof. Dr. Delia González de Reufels; Dr. Teresa Huhle; Prof. Dr. Klaus Schlichte; Dr. Alex Veit
Contact Person	Dr. Alex Veit
Organisation	Institut für Geschichtswissenschaft, Universität Bremen; Institut für Interkulturelle und Internationale Studien (InIIS), Universität Bremen; Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Semester	WiSe 2019/20

The Transnational & Area Studies-Colloquium is a new venue for interdisciplinary debate on pertinent questions of transnational scope and area studies relevance. Scholars and students meet on a monthly basis to discover new approaches and joint research interests. The colloquium is open to the interested public.

Subscribe to the mailing list for regular updates and pre-circulated readings: https://mailman.zfn.uni-bremen.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tas-colloquium

Place	Unicom building Room: 3.3380 Mary-Somerville-Straße 3 28359 Bremen
Time	2.15 pm - 3.45 pm
Organisation	SOCIUM Forschungszentrum Ungleichheit und Sozialpolitik, Universität Bremen
Partic. Organisation	Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS); Sonderforschungsbereich 1342 "Globale Entwicklungsdynamiken von Sozialpolitik", Universität Bremen
Lecture Series	Jour Fixe
Semester	WiSe 2019/20

Place	Unicom Building Room: 7.1020 Mary-Somerville-Straße 7 28359 Bremen
Time	9 am - 4 pm
Contact Person	Johanna Fischer, M.A.
Lecture Series	Equality at the CRC

The advanced PhD and early postdoc years are essential for academic career development. During this period, scientists are often torn between conflicting priorities of intellectual independence, on the one hand, and meeting professional obligations towards their employers, on the other hand. Postdoctoral candidates are expected to develop an independent publication record, apply for external funding, create a distinct research profile, build a teaching portfolio, communicate their research, build a network, undertake research stays abroad, etc. etc. Which of these tasks are particularly important? What are the top priorities? How important is the habilitation? Which time frame is appropriate and compatible with my personal private priorities? Is an academic career what I really want?

The first part of the seminar will be dedicated to learning about and evaluating the various requirements for a long-term career in academia. Based on this, the participants will review their current academic profiles. Following this reflection, they will develop and specify their next goals and the major steps towards qualifying for a long-term academic career.