Universal Conscription, the Military, and Welfare State Development in Europe

Contrary to the standard account of the emergence of the Western welfare state this project argues that the beginnings of social policy and education legislation in Western Europe were significantly shaped by military interests and the power ambitions of governments. The military origins of these policy areas and the related role of the military have hitherto been widely neglected by comparative welfare state research. The spread of universal conscription and the rapid progress in military technology during the second half of the 19th century created the crucial causal links between the military, power politics and state intervention. Both developments coincided with advancing industrialization and demographic transformations and gave rise to the age of industrialized mass warfare. Against this backdrop, the size and educational level of the population as well as public health issues gained importance for the combat power of the military and national power ambitions. Military concerns in terms of the quantity and quality of the so-called human material are regarded as triggers for social and educational reforms. A comparative analysis of Western European countries over the period from ca. 1860 to 1930 will be employed for testing this argument empirically.

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Comparing Protests and Social Cohesion in eastern and western Europe
Research Team: Priska Daphi (Head of project); Sebastian Haunss (Head of project); Pál Susanszky

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We The (Social) Media: Social Media for and by Social Movements
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TCALL Transfer Cluster of Long-Term Care Teaching Facilities
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Development and trial of a tool to determine qualification-oriented staffing ratios using a new scientifically based procedure for standardizing staffing requirements.
Research Team: Heinz Rothgang (Head of project); Peter Ambos; Sophia Brüssermann; Corinna Burfeindt; Ingrid Darmann-Finck; Juliane Mosenhauer; Katharina Scherf; Kevin Tuchczynski; Evelyn Wienzek

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