JSGS 864 Social Policy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

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1 JSGS 864 Social Policy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives INSTRUCTOR: UNIVERSITY OF REGINA CAMPUS UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN CAMPUS Daniel Béland PHONE: (306) OFFICE HOURS: Immediately after class or by appointment OFFICE LOCATION: Diefenbaker 150 TERM: Term 1 (Fall 2017) ROOM: DATE AND TIME: Prairie Room (Diefenbaker Canada Centre) October 4, 11, 18, 21, 25; November 8, 15, 22, 25, 29; December 6. 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm (except from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm on October 25 and November 25) CALENDAR DESCRIPTION This interdisciplinary graduate course offers a comparative and historical discussion of major social policy concepts and problems. More specifically, the course provides comparative insight on key social policy issues in Canada and beyond. Such a comparative approach draws on the best available scholarship to make the students aware of important similarities and differences between Canada and other countries. Finally, the course explores topics like population aging, unemployment, and the role of international organizations that shape contemporary social policy debates, in Canada and abroad. Overall, the course seeks to integrate a review of the best literature on social policy development with a balanced overview of Canadian and international debates on welfare state reform. COURSE OBJECTIVES To adopt a comparative and historical perspective on social policy development; To discuss the emergence and the current transformations of the modern welfare state; To explore the role of social programmes in Canadian politics and society; and To stimulate critical thinking and writing skills for public policy research and administration.

2 ATTRIBUTES OF JSGS GRADUATES 1. Management, Governance, and Leadership: Ability to inspire support for a vision or course of action and successfully direct the teams, processes, and changes required to accomplish it. 2. Communication and Social Skills: Ability to communicate effectively and build enduring, trustbased interpersonal, professional relationships. 3. Systems Thinking and Creative Analysis: Ability to identify key issues and problems, analyze them systematically, and reach sound, innovative conclusions. 4. Public Policy and Community Engagement: Ability to understand how organizational and public policies are formulated, their impact on public policy and management and how to influence their development. 5. Continuous Evaluation and Improvement: Commitment to on-going evaluation for continuous organizational and personal improvement. 6. Policy Knowledge: Ability to analyze and contribute content to at least one applied policy field. COURSE OUTLINE AND ASSIGNMENTS Lecture 1 (04/10): Capitalism, Solidarity, and Welfare Regimes Reading: Béland and Mahon, 2016: 1-42; Esping-Andersen, 1990: 9-34; Béland and Mahon, 2016: Lecture 2 (11/10): Social policy in Canada An introduction (1) Reading: Rice and Prince, 2013: Lecture 3 (18/10): Social policy in Canada An introduction (2) Reading: Rice and Prince, 2013: ; Béland and Mahon, 2016: ***Briefing note due Lecture 4 (21/10): Social policy in Canada An introduction (3) Readings; Béland and Mahon, 2016: 62-86; Rice and Prince, 2013: Lecture 5 (25/10): Employment Insurance and Welfare Reform Readings: Hale, 1998; Courchene and Allan, 2009; Béland and Daigneault, 2015; Daigneault, 2015; August ***Group presentation; special guest: Ken Acton (former Special Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Social Services, and Executive-in-Residence, JSGS). Lecture6 (08/11): The public-private dichotomy The case of Health Care Readings: Street, 2008; Hacker, 2004; Maioni, 2008: 14-25; Béland, Rocco and Waddan, Lecture 7 (15/11): Federalism, indigenous peoples, and social policy Readings: Banting, 2005; Papillon, 2017; Noël and Larocque, Lecture 8 (22/11): New social risks Readings: Béland and Mahon, 2016: 53-61; Bonoli, 2005; Jenson, Lecture 9 (25/11): Old-age security Readings: Béland and Myles, 2005; Wiseman and Ycas, 2006; Baldwin, 2009.

3 Lecture 10 (29/11): Global actors and pension reform (1) Reading: Orenstein, 2008: ; Lecture 11 (06/12): Global actors and pension reform (2) Reading: Orenstein 2008: ***Policy report due ***Distribution of the questions for the take home (due date: 15/12). REQUIRED READINGS Underlined books available at the U of S bookstore (only buy the second [2013] edition of the Rice and Prince book and not the first edition) and on reserve (24 hours) at the Murray Library; journal articles available through the PAWS system; references in yellow are on reserve (four hours) at the Murray Library for the duration of the winter semester; references in green will be available on PAWS in due course. August, Rick Saskatchewan: Development, Reform, and Retrenchment in Daniel Béland and Pierre-Marc Daigneault (eds.), Welfare Reform in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp Baldwin, Bob Research Study on the Canadian Retirement Income System. Toronto: Prepared for the Ministry of Finance, Government of Ontario, pp. iii-vii ( Executive Summary ). Banting, Keith G Canada: Nation-Building in a Federal Welfare State in Herbert Obinger, Stephan Leibfried and Frank G. Castles (eds.), Federalism and the Welfare State: New World and European Experiences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp Bashevkin, Sylvia Rethinking Retrenchment: North American Social Policy during the Early Clinton and Chrétien Years, Canadian Journal of Political Science, 33(1): 2000: Béland, Daniel and Rianne Mahon An Advanced Introduction to Social Policy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Béland, Daniel and Pierre-Marc Daigneault The state of provincial social assistance in Canada. Saskatoon: Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. Béland, Daniel and John Myles Stasis amidst Change: Canadian Pension Reform in an Age of Retrenchment. In Giuliano Bonoli and Toshimitsu Shinkawa (eds.), Ageing and Pension Reform around the World. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing: Daniel Béland, Philip Rocco, and Alex Waddan Policy Feedback and the Politics of the Affordable Care Act, Paper presented on September 29 at the Policy Studies Journal workshop Policy Feedback and Feed Forward (Tucson). Bonoli, Giuliano The Politics of the New Social Policies: Providing Coverage against New Social Risks in Mature Welfare States, Policy & Politics, 33(3), Courchene, Thomas J. and John R. Allan A Short History of EI, Policy Options, September Daigneault, Pierre-Marc Ideas and welfare reform in Saskatchewan: Entitlement, workfare or activation? Canadian Journal of Political Science, 48(1): Esping-Andersen, Gøsta The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press: 9-34.

4 Hacker, Jacob S Privatizing Risk without Privatizing the Welfare State: The Hidden Politics of Social Policy Retrenchment in the United States, American Political Science Review 98(2): Hale, Geoffrey E Reforming Employment Insurance: Transcending the Politics of the Status Quo, Canadian Public Policy, 24(4): Jenson, Jane Canada s New Social Risks: Directions for a New Social Architecture. Ottawa: Canadian Policy Research Networks. Maioni, Antonia Health Care Politics and Policy in Canada in Health Care in Crisis: The Drive for Health Reform in Canada and the United States. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, pp Noël, Alain and Florence Larocque Aboriginal Peoples and Poverty in Canada: Can Provincial Governments Make a Difference? Paper prepared for the Annual Meeting of the International Sociological Association s Research Committee 19 (RC19). Orenstein, Mitchell A Privatizing Pensions: The Transnational Campaign for Social Security Reform. Princeton: Princeton University Press. EVALUATION Briefing note (due date: 18/10) - 15% Write a word briefing note on the contemporary EI (Employment Insurance) debate in Canada, with a focus on the EI regions. Longer briefing notes will be rejected. Detailed instructions about how to write a briefing note will be posted on PAWS. Group presentation (in class: 25/10) - 10% Assess the functioning and future of the EI regions in Canada by discussing the briefing notes that you and your group member(s) submitted a week earlier. Each group will speak for about 10 minutes, followed by a short question period. Policy report (due date: 06/12) - 40% Prepare a policy report on pension reform in the country of your choice, with the exclusion of Canada. The goal of the report is to analyze the pension experience of a foreign country in order to draw lessons for Canada. Write between 3000 and 3500 words, including notes and references. Longer reports will be rejected. The bibliography must contain at least eight references. The paper must be typed, but cannot be submitted electronically; staple or paper clip pages together. Take-home exam (questions distributed on 06/12; due date for the written answers: 15/12) - 25% Two essay questions dealing with key issues discussed in class. Write no more than 1500 words per question. Informed participation - 10% Students must arrive in class and submit assignments on time, attend the lectures regularly, read all the assigned material before each lecture, and significantly participate in class discussion.

5 LATE ASSIGNMENTS Without compelling reasons, late assignments will not be accepted and will result in a mark of zero. STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS University of Regina (U of R): Students in this course who, because of a disability, may have a need for accommodations are encouraged to discuss this need with the instructor and to contact the Coordinator of Special Needs Services at (306) U OF S: Students in this course who, because of a disability, may have a need for accommodations are encouraged to discuss this need with the instructor and to contact Disability Services for Students (DSS) at Students Experiencing Stress University of Regina (U of R): Students in this course who are experiencing stress can seek assistance from the University of Regina Counselling Services. For more information, please see the attached document, visit this website: or call (306) between 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time Monday to Friday. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND CONDUCT U of R: Ensuring that you understand and follow the principles of academic integrity and conduct as laid out by the University of Regina (available at is vital to your success in graduate school. Ensuring that your work is your own and reflects both your own ideas and those of others incorporated in your work is important: ensuring that you acknowledge the ideas, words, and phrases of others that you use is a vital part of the scholarly endeavour. If you have any questions at all about academic integrity in general or about specific issues, contact your course instructor to discuss your questions. U OF S: Understanding and following the principles of academic integrity and conduct as laid out in the University of Saskatchewan s Guidelines for Academic Conduct is vital to your success in graduate school (available at Ensuring that your work is your own and reflects both your own ideas and those of others incorporated in your work is important: ensuring that you acknowledge the ideas, words, and phrases of others that you use is a vital part of the scholarly endeavour. If you have any questions at all about academic integrity in general or about specific issues, contact any faculty member and we can discuss your questions.