COVID-19 is probably the most significant global crisis of any of our lifetimes. The numbers involved have been stupefying, whether they speak of infection and mortality, the scale of public health measures such as mobility restrictions, or the economic consequences for unemployment and public sector spending. A significant amount of research has already been published on COVID-19, with a focus on its medical and epidemiological dimensions but also social science country reports and monitoring projects that are essentially descriptive. The objective of this book is to identify key threads in the global comparative discussion that continue to shed light on COVID-19 and shape debates about what it means for scholarship in health and comparative politics. The editors bring together over 30 authors versed in politics and the health issues in order to understand the health policy decisions, the public health interventions, the social policy decisions, their interactions, and the reasons. The book's coverage is global, with a wide range of key and exemplary countries, and contains a mixture of comparative, thematic, and templated country studies. All go beyond reporting and monitoring to develop explanations that draw on the authors' expertise while engaging in structured conversations across the book.

Most of the expansive literature on social citizenship follows its leading thinker, T. H. Marshall, and talks only about the British state, often referring only to England. But social citizenship rights require taxation, spending, effective public services and politics committed to them. They can only be as strong as politics makes them. That means that the distinctive territorial politics of the UK are reshaping citizenship rights as they reshape policies, obligations and finance across the UK. This timely book explores how changing territorial politics are impacting on social citizenship rights across the UK. The contributors contend that whilst territorial politics have always been major influences in the meaning and scope of social citizenship rights, devolved politics are now increasingly producing different social citizenship rights in different parts of the UK. Moreover, they are doing it in ways that few scholars or policymakers expect or can trace. Drawing on extensive research over the last 10 years, the book brings together leading scholars of devolution and citizenship to chart the connection between the politics of devolution and the meaning of social citizenship in the UK. The first part of the book connects the large, and largely distinct, literatures on citizenship, devolution and the welfare state. The empirical second part identifies the different issues that will shape the future territorial politics of citizenship in the UK: intergovernmental relations and finance; policy divergence; bureaucratic politics; public opinion; and the European Union. It will be welcomed by academics and students in social policy, public policy, citizenship studies, politics and political science.

This contributed volume is the first in-depth analysis of the health policies of populist radical right (PRR) parties worldwide and their actual involvement in health care. The prominence of authoritarian, nationalistic, and populist parties is expanding steadily. However, it is often difficult to discern what kind of policies they really stand for, particularly with regard to the welfare state and public health, where research remains sparse. This book fills this critical gap. The text connects PRR parties and leaders with actual health and social policy effects in Eastern and Western Europe as well as in the United States, Brazil, and the Philippines. The chapters highlight ten individual country case studies authored by young scholars and professors with political science and health experts: The Austrian Freedom Party in Government: A Threat to Public Health? The Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Health Policy: Normalization or Containment of Populist Radical Right Tendencies? Populist Radical Right Influence on Health Policy in the Netherlands: The Case of the Party for Freedom (PVV) The Evolution of the Populist Radical Right and Their Impact on Health in Italy The Populist Radical Right and Health in Hungary Is the Polish 'Law and Justice' (PiS) a Typical Populist Radical Right Party? A Health Policy Perspective The Case of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) Rhetoric and Reality in the United States of America: Trump, Populism, and Health Policy Ruling Through Chaos in Brazil: Bolsonaro's Authoritarian Agenda for Public Health An Authoritarian Reaction to COVID-19 in the Philippines: A Strong Commitment to Universal Health Care Combined with Violent Securitization The Populist Radical Right and Health is exceptionally timely and essential reading for political science and health colleagues researching and writing about PRR parties and leaders; students and faculty in public health, health and social policy, and political science; and anyone interested in learning more about this topic.

This contributed volume is the first in-depth analysis of the health policies of populist radical right (PRR) parties worldwide and their actual involvement in health care. The prominence of authoritarian, nationalistic, and populist parties is expanding steadily. However, it is often difficult to discern what kind of policies they really stand for, particularly with regard to the welfare state and public health, where research remains sparse. This book fills this critical gap. The text connects PRR parties and leaders with actual health and social policy effects in Eastern and Western Europe as well as in the United States, Brazil, and the Philippines. The chapters highlight ten individual country case studies authored by young scholars and professors with political science and health experts: The Austrian Freedom Party in Government: A Threat to Public Health? The Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Health Policy: Normalization or Containment of Populist Radical Right Tendencies? Populist Radical Right Influence on Health Policy in the Netherlands: The Case of the Party for Freedom (PVV) The Evolution of the Populist Radical Right and Their Impact on Health in Italy The Populist Radical Right and Health in Hungary Is the Polish 'Law and Justice' (PiS) a Typical Populist Radical Right Party? A Health Policy Perspective The Case of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) Rhetoric and Reality in the United States of America: Trump, Populism, and Health Policy Ruling Through Chaos in Brazil: Bolsonaro's Authoritarian Agenda for Public Health An Authoritarian Reaction to COVID-19 in the Philippines: A Strong Commitment to Universal Health Care Combined with Violent Securitization The Populist Radical Right and Health is exceptionally timely and essential reading for political science and health colleagues researching and writing about PRR parties and leaders; students and faculty in public health, health and social policy, and political science; and anyone interested in learning more about this topic.

What does federalism do to welfare states? This question arises in scholarly debates about policy design as well as in discussions about the right political institutions for a country. It has frustrated many, with federalism seeming to matter in all sorts of combinations with all sorts of issues, from nationalism to racism to intergovernmental competition. The diffuse federalism literature has not come to compelling answers for very basic questions. Scott L. Greer, Daniel BEland, AndrE Lecours, and Kenneth A. Dubin argue for a new approach-one methodologically focused on configurations of variables within cases rather than a fruitless attempt to isolate "the" effect of federalism; and one that is substantively engaged with identifying key elements in configurations as well as with when and how their interactions matter. Born out of their work on a multi-year, eleven-country project (now published as Federalism and Social Policy: Patterns of Redistribution in Eleven Countries, University of Michigan Press, 2019), this book comprises a methodological and substantive agenda. Methodologically, the authors shift to studies that embraced and understood the complexity within which federal political institutions operate. Substantively, they make an argument for the importance of plurinationalism, changing economic interests, and institutional legacies.

The European Union after Brexit addresses the forces and mechanisms at work during an unprecedented transformation of the European polity. How will the EU operate without one of its key diplomatic and international military partners? What will happen to its priorities, internal balance(s) of power and legislation without the reliably liberal and Eurosceptic United Kingdom? In general, what happens when an 'ever closer union' founded on a virtuous circle of economic, social, and political integration is called into question? Though this volume is largely positive about the future of the EU after Brexit, it suggests that the process of European integration has gone into reverse, with Brexit coming amidst a series of developments that have disrupted the optimistic trajectory of integration. Covering topics such as international trade, freedom of movement, and security relations, this book answers a need for a one-stop source of strong research-based discussions of Brexit. -- .

What does federalism do to welfare states? This question arises in scholarly debates about policy design as well as in discussions about the right political institutions for a country. It has frustrated many, with federalism seeming to matter in all sorts of combinations with all sorts of issues, from nationalism to racism to intergovernmental competition. The diffuse federalism literature has not come to compelling answers for very basic questions. Scott L. Greer, Daniel Béland, André Lecours, and Kenneth A. Dubin argue for a new approach--one methodologically focused on configurations of variables within cases rather than a fruitless attempt to isolate "the" effect of federalism; and one that is substantively engaged with identifying key elements in configurations as well as with when and how their interactions matter. Born out of their work on a multi-year, eleven-country project (published as Federalism and Social Policy: Patterns of Redistribution in Eleven Countries, University of Michigan Press, 2019), this book comprises a methodological and substantive agenda. Methodologically, the authors shift to studies that embraced and understood the complexity within which federal political institutions operate. Substantively, they make an argument for the importance of plurinationalism, changing economic interests, and institutional legacies.

One of the most important political and economic challenges facing Europe and elsewhere is the ageing of societies. Must ageing populations create conflict between generations and crisis for health systems? Our answer is no. The problem is not so much demographic change as the political and policy challenge of creating fair, sustainable and effective policies for people of all ages. This book, based on a large European Observatory study, uses new evidence to challenge some of the myths surrounding ageing and its effects on economies and health systems. Cataclysmic views of population ageing are often based on stereotypes and anecdotes unsupported by evidence. How we address ageing societies is a choice. Societies can choose policies that benefit people of all ages, promoting equity both within and between generations, and political coalitions can be built to support such policies. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This volume takes an enlightened step back from the ongoing discussion of globalization. The authors reject the notion that globalization is an analytically useful term. Rather, this volume shows globalization as merely the framework of the current political debate on the future of world power. Some of the many other novel ideas advanced by the authors include: the explicit prediction that East Asia is not going to become the center of the world; the contention that the USSR collapsed for the same reasons that nearly brought down the United States in 1973; and the notion that the regional economic networks that are emerging from under the modern states are in fact rather old formations.

The articles in the volume are organized around three main themes. Part One explores both the changing patterns of global power from the viewpoint of geopolitics and the Gramscian approach to the study of international relations. Part Two further develops the debate among a number of eminent historians and sociologists challenging both the apologists for and the opponents of globalization in new and unexpected ways. Part Three traces the emergence of regional economic networks and explores the ambiguous problems of security and identity posed by the old-new transborder formations.

This volume takes an enlightened step back from the ongoing discussion of globalization. The authors reject the notion that globalization is an analytically useful term. Rather, this volume shows globalization as merely the framework of the current political debate on the future of world power. Some of the many other novel ideas advanced by the authors include: the explicit prediction that East Asia is not going to become the center of the world; the contention that the USSR collapsed for the same reasons that nearly brought down the United States in 1973; and the notion that the regional economic networks that are emerging from under the modern states are in fact rather old formations. The articles in the volume are organized around three main themes. Part One explores both the changing patterns of global power from the viewpoint of geopolitics and the Gramscian approach to the study of international relations. Part Two further develops the debate among a number of eminent historians and sociologists challenging both the apologists for and the opponents of globalization in new and unexpected ways. Part Three traces the emergence of regional economic networks and explores the ambiguous problems of security and identity posed by the old-new transborder formations.

Federalism and Social Policy asks a crucial question: Is a strong and egalitarian welfare state compatible with federalism? This volume explores the complex relationship between decentralization and the welfare state to determine whether or not decentralization has negative consequences for welfare. The contributors examine a variety of federalist nations, including Spain, Canada, and the United Kingdom, interrogating key issues: (1) Are there regional welfare states (such as Scotland, Minnesota, etc.)? (2) How much variation is there in the structures of federal welfare states? (3) Is federalism bad for welfare? (4) Does austerity recentralize or decentralize welfare states? By focusing on money and policy instead of law and constitutional politics, this volume shows that federalism shapes regional governments and policies even when decentralization exists.