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Edited by Stephan Leibfried, Evelyne Huber, Matthew Lange, Jonah D. Levy, Frank Nullmeier, and John D. Stephens.

This Handbook offers a comprehensive treatment of transformations of the state, from its origins in different parts of the world and different time periods to its transformations since World War II in the advanced industrial countries, the post-Communist world, and the Global South.

Leading experts in their fields, from Europe and North America, discuss conceptualizations and theories of the state and the transformations of the state in its engagement with a changing international environment as well as with changing domestic economic, social, and political challenges. The Handbook covers different types of states in the Global South (from failed to predatory, rentier and developmental), in different kinds of advanced industrial political economies (corporatist, statist, liberal, import substitution industrialization), and in various post-Communist countries (Russia, China, successor states to the USSR, and Eastern Europe). It also addresses crucial challenges in different areas of state intervention, from security to financial regulation, migration, welfare states, democratization and quality of democracy, ethno-nationalism, and human development.

The volume makes a compelling case that far from losing its relevance in the face of globalization, the state remains a key actor in all areas of social and economic life, changing its areas of intervention, its modes of operation, and its structures in adaption to new international and domestic challenges.

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More information:
Oxford University Press

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Frank Nullmeier
SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-58576
E-Mail: frank.nullmeier@uni-bremen.de

Prof. Dr. Stephan Leibfried (verstorben)

Welfare State Memorandum handed to German President Joachim Gauck, who offered to continue the discussion.

On September 11, 2014, President Joachim Gauck presented the welfare state memorandum, a Denkschrift, at the German Federal Welfare Court in Kassel on the court's 60th jubilee. The memorandum is an unusual Festschrift to which the Center for Social Policy Research (ZeS) and the Collaborative Research Center 597 "Transformations of the State" (TranState) of the University of Bremen have contributed considerably. The title of the memorandum volume is "Foundations and Challenges of the Welfare State". It is published by the Erich Schmidt Verlag in Berlin, a welfare law publisher.

The memorandum is 823 pages long. More than 300 pages address thereby the present challenges of the welfare state; the other contributions take stock of historical and legal perspectives. In a path and institution dependent sector such as the welfare state, though, looking back tells a lot about present and future trajectories. At the end of his speech, President Joachim Gauck invited the memorandum editors and other experts to a colloquium at his official residence Bellevue Palace in Berlin. Topics of discussion will be challenges to the welfare state but also to its respective research. Especially the weakening infrastructure at German universities posits such a challenge due to its crucial/fundamental importance for the public debate on welfare state reforms.

A Festschrift for a court in shape of a memorandum is a quite unusual format. The memorandum is not, as it would have been expected, about lauding the Federal Welfare Court and its adjudication in the last 60 years. The court rather uses the occasion to look beyond - at the state of the welfare state and its future. It looks at the fate of the 'object' of its own jurisprudence, a moving target that has a take on 50 percent of all state expenditures and on one third of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Germany. Having this in mind, the Court reaches far beyond jurisprudence (9 chapters) into economics, history, philosophy, social policy, and sociology (29 chapters) in its memorandum. Though welfare state challenges are relevant in the OECD world, a well developed system of welfare courts is a German distinctiveness: Germany has fused the rule of law with the welfare state. This leads to something unique, which the Germans dub Sozialstaat. In Germany, Sozialstaat and the welfare court system are identical twins (Preface, p. X f.). It did not happen by chance that it was a German welfare court which took the initiative for an overall assessment of the welfare state landscape.

The strong participation of Bremen academics is revealed by many researchers who either are currently working at Bremen University (Olaf Groh-Samberg, Friedhelm Hase, Stephan Leibfried, Steffen Mau, Frank Nullmeier, and Herbert Obinger), were members at an earlier time (Stefan Gosepath, Florian Rödl, Ilona Ostner, Manfred G. Schmidt, and Peter Starke) or are strongly connected to the Bremen Centre for Social Policy Research, the ZeS, (like Franz-Xaver Kaufmann, who was the Chairman of the ZeS' founding advisory board from 1990 to 1998). Kaufmann contributed the conclusion to the memorandum, which is a good start to the whole volume (pp. 777-811).

Bremen participation will also be strong in the second volume of that Denkschrift on "Knowledge Production by Judges and Academia: The Federal Welfare Court's Knowledge Production and Welfare State Research" that will be published in 2015. Involved Bremen researchers are: Stefan Gress, Johannes Huinink, Heinz Rothgang, and Winfried Schmähl. This volume results from the conference that took place on September 9 and 10 in Kassel. It brought together the Federal Welfare Court judges with chairs from five disciplines (economics, law, philosophy, political science, and sociology), all involved in social policy research. Eight topics - and eight court jurisdictions - came into focus: long-term care, old age security, health, labour market policy, poverty, family, disability, and the financing of social security. Since the whole event took place under the umbrella of the 48th Welfare Judges Week, judges from lower courts participated throughout.

Two of the editors have a Bremen origin: Stephan Leibfried, Director of the Collaborative Research Center 597 "Transformations of the State" and principal investigator at the Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS), has been a professor in Bremen since 1974; as well as Peter Masuch, President of the Federal Welfare Court in Kassel, a University of Bremen Law School alumnus of the class of '72, who had been a welfare court judge in Bremen in the 1980s and a state welfare court judge in Bremen in the 1990s.

More information:
Erich Schmidt Verlag: TOC and more information about the publication.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Stephan Leibfried (verstorben)

Special recognition is provided for social science research in Bremen on the welfare state and the state in general.

The 2014 Schader Foundation Award for Social Sciences goes to Stephan Leibfried from the University of Bremen. The prize, worth 15,000 euros, recognises Leibfried's outstanding national and international social science research on the welfare state and the state in general. It emphasises the contribution of his scientific and public work on finding solutions to societal problems. This involves, among other things, his efforts on the institutionalisation of international comparative welfare research and the effects of his research on social policy practice not least in Germany.

The long path from a reform university in 1971, disparaged as a 'commie training centre', to a University of Excellence (Exzellenzuniversität) in 2012 illustrates just but an example of the accomplishments throughout his professional life. Although there were isolated approaches toward the welfare state in 1974 when Leibfried became professor for Social Policy and Social Administration in Social Education at the University of Bremen, there were barely any approaches focusing on broader institutional foundations. Leibfried was not only as a result a founding father of the Centre for Social Policy (ZeS) in 1988, which interdisciplinarly - ranging from Sociology, Public Health, Health Policy, Political Science to Economics - anchored international comparative welfare state research at the University of Bremen through start-up funds from the Volkswagen Foundation. He also ranked among the leading figures who in the same year received approval from the German Research Association (DFG) for the Sociological Collaborative Research Centre "Status Passages and the Life Course". This funding was extended until 2001 for a maximum amount of three times. This research centre not only implemented a new dynamic perspective on social issues but also contributed to the University of Bremen as its first collaborative research centre. It was particularly considered a major contribution after its incorporation into the DFG in 1986 through its DFG-research breakthrough and its accompanying additional research funds amounting to 20 million DM.

Following from this - once again through funds from the Volkswagen Foundation - was the founding of the Graduate School of Social Sciences in 2001 as a basis for interdisciplinary doctoral training in the Social Sciences. In 2007, the newly named Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) was the first success in the University of Bremen's - and Jacobs University Bremen as its junior partner - efforts in the Excellence Initiative. This was then followed by its contributions to the University of Bremen's general success in the 2012 Excellence Initiative. Leibfried - since 2001 professor of Political Science with a focus on policy analysis and social policy at the department of Social Sciences - belonged to the founding team that successfully guided the Law and Political Science Collaborative Research Centre "Transformation of the State" at the University of Bremen. This collaborative research centre's funding was extended a maximum of two times until 2014. Additional funds amounting to around 24 million euros were no small contribution to the working capacity at the University. Furthermore, since 2012 Leibfried has been appointed to a joint professorship at Jacobs University Bremen.

With a focus on actual practice, Leibfried not only succeeded in building many bridges between research and practice, for example as shown in a twelve year-long research project on the dynamism of social assistance ("Once in, always in?") based on Bremen administrative data. In the first decade of the 21st century this continued, once again through the help of the Volkswagen Foundation, with a programme for visiting researchers on "Journalism Meets Research" - together with the Cologne-based Max-Planck-Institute and the WZB in Berlin - followed by an exchange programme on science and practice with the LSE (on the welfare state) and currently with the University of Oxford (on changes in the classical nation state).

He also recently became one of the organisers of a multidisciplinary catalogue on social science social policy research that aims to open new research horizons. The first volume is on "Welfare Policy in the 21st Century" and was published in 2013 by Campus. He won the recognition of the Federal Social Court (Bundessozialgericht) in Kassel thanks to a two volume overview on the "Foundation and Challenges of the German Welfare State". The Court will celebrate its 60th anniversary featuring a welfare state overview on all relevant disciplines. Finally, Leibfried can be recognised among the most distinguished commentators of current scientific policy; this particularly includes the Excellence Initiative of the German federation and the federal states. However, his commitment does not end with commentary. He has contributed at every possible level, thereby helping the University of Bremen succeed in becoming one of the eleven German Excellence Universities in 2012.

Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter, Rector of the University of Bremen, has enthusiastically stated that "this award for my colleague Stephan Leibfried is but another testament of the outstanding personalities present in every scientific discipline at the University of Bremen". Leibfried has ensured that social sciences in Bremen now hold high standing both nationally and internationally; namely through its various books published by renowned Anglo-American university publishers and its articles found in important international journals. Furthermore, a quarter of a century of receiving solid and fundamental external funding all while developing research facilities is a testament to this success. Social sciences and marine sciences have accordingly become the fundamental pillars of the 'excellence university' in Bremen. Leibfried presented this step by step in 2001 in an anniversary publication entitled 'Lichtspuren'; a private annotated photo album tracing more than 40 years of social science research in Bremen.

The Schader Award will be presented on May 15, 2014 in Darmstadt. The previous award winners include, among others, Jutta Allmendinger, Ulrich Beck, Ralf Dahrendorf, Wolf Lepenies and Gesine Schwan. The independent and non-profit foundation was founded in 1988 by the civil engineer Alois M. Schader. It has promoted the practical relevance of the social sciences and has supported dialogue between science and practice for over 25 years.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Stephan Leibfried (verstorben)

Volume on welfare state research in Germany and its perspectives now published by Campus.

The collaborative research project "Welfare State Policies in the 21st Century", elaborated by around fifty researchers from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, scrutinizes the status and perspectives of welfare state research and was recently published by Campus. The project has been coordinated by the Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS) and aimed at presenting interdisciplinary perspectives both in the long run and across boundaries. A previous extensive analysis of the current state of research revealed several gaps within the field.

In the OECD world, around a quarter of the entire GDP and almost half of public expenditures is spent on the welfare state, i.e. for the prevention of major risks in life. Although Germany represents one of the top-spending countries, respective research endeavours take a back seat. The performance of the welfare state is essential for an increasing number of people and its reforms characterize everyday life. Considering this as well as the manifold challenges - generated by transformations in education and working life, as well as family structures and significant demographic changes - the welfare state has to become a more central element in science and academic research. Otherwise blind flying social policy will become the norm while its success will be left to chance. The memorandum at hand examines upcoming challenges and suggests wide-ranging topical and analytical adjustments in social policy research.

Editor: Marius R. Busemeyer (Konstanz), Bernhard Ebbinghaus (Mannheim), Stephan Leibfried (Bremen), Nicole Mayer-Ahuja (Hamburg), Herbert Obinger (Bremen) and Birgit Pfau-Effinger (Hamburg).

Coordination: Kristin Bothur and Christian Peters.

Author: Klaus Armingeon (Bern), Peter Axer (Heidelberg), Friedrich Breyer (Konstanz), Ulrich Becker (München), Karl-Jürgen Bieback (Hamburg), Hans-Jürgen Burchardt (Kassel), Marius R. Busemeyer (Konstanz), Bernhard Ebbinghaus (Mannheim), Andreas Eckert (Berlin), Patrick Emmenegger (St. Gallen), Patricia Frericks (Hamburg), Karin Gottschall (Bremen), Olaf Groh-Samberg (Bremen), Andreas Hänlein (Kassel), Silja Häusermann (Zürich), Friedhelm Hase (Bremen), Richard Hauser (Frankfurt a.M.), Martin Heidenreich (Oldenburg), Johannes Huinink (Bremen), Gerhard Igl (Kiel), Ellen Immergut (Berlin), Bernhard Kittel (Wien), Tanja Klenk (Potsdam), Matthias Knuth (Duisburg), Stephan Leibfried (Bremen), Lutz Leisering (Bielefeld), Stephan Lessenich (Jena), Philip Manow (Bremen), Kerstin Martens (Bremen), Steffen Mau (Bremen), Nicole Mayer-Ahuja (Hamburg), Rita Nikolai (Berlin), Frank Nullmeier (Bremen), Herbert Obinger (Bremen), Birgit Pfau-Effinger (Hamburg), Stephan Rixen (Bayreuth), Heinz Rothgang (Bremen), Carina Schmitt (Bremen), Ronnie Schöb (Berlin), Margarete Schuler-Harms (Hamburg), Klaus Sieveking (Bremen), Peter Starke (Bremen), Christine Trampusch (Köln), Stefan Traub (Bremen), Gert G. Wagner (Berlin), J. Timo Weishaupt (Mannheim), Claus Wendt (Siegen), Martin Werding (Bochum) and Michael Windzio (Bremen).

Publication: Busemeyer, Marius; Ebbinghaus, Bernhard; Leibfried, Stephan; Mayer-Ahuja, Nicole; Obinger, Herbert; Pfau-Effinger, Birgit (Ed.), 2013: Wohlfahrtspolitik im 21. Jahrhundert. Neue Wege der Forschung, Frankfurt am Main: Campus

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Stephan Leibfried (verstorben)

Prof. Dr. Herbert Obinger
SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 5
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-58567
E-Mail: herbert.obinger@uni-bremen.de

Edited by Francis G. Castles, Stephan Leibfried, Jane Lewis, Herbert Obinger, Christopher Pierson

The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State is the authoritative and definitive guide to the contemporary welfare state. In a volume consisting of nearly fifty newly-written chapters, a broad range of the world's leading scholars offer a comprehensive account of everything one needs to know about the modern welfare state. The book is divided into eight sections. It opens with three chapters that evaluate the philosophical case for (and against) the welfare state. Surveys of the welfare state's history and of the approaches taken to its study are followed by four extended sections, running to some thirty-five chapters in all, which offer a comprehensive and in-depth survey of our current state of knowledge across the whole range of issues that the welfare state embraces. The first of these sections looks at inputs and actors (including the roles of parties, unions, and employers), the impact of gender and religion, patterns of migration and a changing public opinion, the role of international organisations and the impact of globalisation. The next two sections cover policy inputs (in areas such as pensions, health care, disability, care of the elderly, unemployment, and labour market activation) and their outcomes (in terms of inequality and poverty, macroeconomic performance, and retrenchment). The seventh section consists of seven chapters which survey welfare state experience around the globe (and not just within the OECD). Two final chapters consider questions about the global future of the welfare state.

The individual chapters of the Handbook are written in an informed but accessible way by leading researchers in their respective fields giving the reader an excellent and truly up-to-date knowledge of the area under discussion. Taken together, they constitute a comprehensive compendium of all that is best in contemporary welfare state research and a unique guide to what is happening now in this most crucial and contested area of social and political development.

Publication:
Castles, Francis G.; Leibfried, Stephan; Lewis, Jane; Obinger, Herbert; Pierson, Christopher, 2010: The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, Oxford Handbooks in Politics & International Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Stephan Leibfried (verstorben)

Prof. Dr. Herbert Obinger
SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 5
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-58567
E-Mail: herbert.obinger@uni-bremen.de

By Herbert Obinger, Peter Starke, Julia Moser, Claudia Bogedan, Edith Obinger-Gindulis, Stephan Leibfried

Transformations of the Welfare State gives a new twist to the longstanding debate on the impact of economic globalization on the welfare state. The authors focus on several small, advanced OECD economies in order to assess whether (and how) the welfare state will be able to compete under conditions of an increasingly integrated world economy.

Small states can be seen as an 'early warning system' for general trends, because of their dependence on world markets and vulnerability to competitive pressures. The book's theoretical part innovatively integrates the literature on the political economy of small states with more recent research on the impact of globalization on social policy to generate a set of ideal-typical policy scenarios. In the main body of the book, the authors systematically test these scenarios against the experience of four countries: Austria, Denmark, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

The comparative, in-depth analysis of reform trajectories since the 1970s in four key policy areas; pensions, labour market policy, health care, and family policy provides, according to the authors, substantial evidence of a new convergence in welfare state patterns. They go on to argue that this amounts to a fundamental transformation of the welfare state from the old Keynesian welfare state positioned 'against the market' to a new set of supply-side policies 'with' and 'for' the market. Yet one of the big lessons to be learned from this timely study is that the transformation does not match the doomsday scenario predicted by neo-classical economists in the 1990s. There is no evidence of a 'race to the bottom' of social expenditure and standards of social protection, nor of a convergence towards a 'liberal' social policy model. Looking to the possible future of the welfare state in an era newly marked by profound uncertainty, the authors sound an optimistic note for states of any size.

Publication:
Obinger, Herbert; Starke, Peter; Moser, Julia; Bogedan, Claudia; Obinger-Gindulis, Edith; Leibfried, Stephan, 2010: Transformations of the Welfare State. Small States, Big Lessons, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Stephan Leibfried (verstorben)

Prof. Dr. Herbert Obinger
SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 5
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-58567
E-Mail: herbert.obinger@uni-bremen.de