Governments all around Europe responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with massive budgetary expansions. A third wave of Euro-austerity is imminent, however – just like in the first two episodes during the 1990s and after the Great Recession of 2008. Many are already concerned the pandemic will provide a trump card for conservative governments wishing to cutback welfare programs. Does the third episode of Euro-austerity after COVID-19 represent the final nail in the coffin of Europe’s welfare states? Or is this episode yet another ordinary blow these welfare states have grown to survive? I offer comparative historical insights for these hot-button policy questions based on my recent book Euro-Austerity and Welfare States. In the talk, I trace developments in social expenditures and social rights in the first episode of Euro-austerity in the run-up to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) during the 1990s. I then show how governments reformed welfare states in Belgium, Greece, and Italy – countries where austerity’s impact was expected to be greatest. I close by discussing key takeaways from the politics of welfare state reform during the earlier episodes of Euro-austerity for the final Episode of Euro-austerity looming large after COVID-19.

About the speaker:

Tolga Bolukbasi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey. Dr. Bolukbasi’s work cuts across the fields of comparative public policy and comparative political economy. His most recent research explores questions lying at the heart of distributive politics in Turkey in a comparative European perspective.

The OPEN CAMPUS is an interactive public event in the Campus Park of the University of Bremen. With an information and entertainment programme for prospective students, pupils, families with children and the general public. The CRC 1342 will presumably present itself and its research topics in a pavilion and with presentations.

Human rights based approaches are widely used to address various social and political problems in the field of education, child care, health and social protection. By stipulating an internationally agreed set of norms, human-rights based approaches provide a stronger basis for citizens to make claims on their states and for holding states to account for their duties to enhance the access of their citizens to the realisation of their social, economic and political rights. This presentation is based on ethnographic studies conducted in India, Nepal and Sierra Leone. It shows the role of human rights in re-shaping of education and social policy and makes a particular focus on the impact of these approaches on empowerment of marginalized groups such as ethnic minorities and indigenous women.

Publications

Samonova, Elena. (2022). Human Rights Through the Eyes of Bonded Labourers in India. Journal of Modern Slavery: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of Human Trafficking Solutions, 7(2): 82-96.

Samonova, Elena et al. (2021). “An Empty Bag Cannot Stay Upright: The costs of “free” primary education in Sierra Leone”. International Journal of Educational Development 87: 102500.

Samonova, Elena et al. (2022). Picturing Dangers: Children’s Concepts of Safety and Risks in Rural Sierra Leone. Children and Society 37: 906–924.