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Call for papers: Drivers and challenges of social policies: Global, regional, national, and local perspectives
Annual conference of the International Sociological Association, Research Committee (RC) 19 on Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy, University of Fribourg (25-27 August 2021)
The current COVID-19 crisis demonstrates once more how social problems and policy responses are shaped by a complex interplay of global, regional, national, and local factors. Some global actors were key drivers shaping the definition of and the response to this highly unequal medical and social problem. Others, not least in the humanitarian sector, had problems in continuing their routine work. Regional actors such as the African Union or the European Union struggled to coordinate policy responses as national policy responses prevailed. However, countries reacted with a broad variety of public health and social policy responses. Many countries introduced or adapted social policies to cushion at least a part of the (vulnerable) populations. In some federal countries, there was competition and cooperation on the sub-national level. Finally, many social problems became most visible at the local level, often triggering strong engagement by non-state actors. On all levels, the COVID-19 crisis impacted productive activities and is reconfiguring different care and support relationships. Many of these changes, as well as the successes and flaws of policy responses, are becoming increasingly apparent. The theme of the RC19 annual conference is the drivers of, and the challenges to, social policies in a post-pandemic world.
The organizers of the 2021 annual conference invite papers that discuss drivers and challenges of social policies, including but not restricted to social policies related to the COVID-19 crisis. Papers can have a global, world regional, national, subnational, and/or local perspective. Especially welcome are theoretically-grounded empirical papers. As usual, the annual conference will bring together an active and lively community of scholars from different fields of social policy studies, ranging from PhD students and early-career researchers to established scholars. Beyond the broad theme outlined above, we also invite RC19 members to present their recent work, even if they are not closely connected to that theme.
Deadline for abstract submission: 27 March 2021
