Institute for History, Leiden University (Web)

Veneu: Leiden
Time: 19.-20.01.2017
Registration due: 01.11.2016
Recently, the refugee crisis has been framed as a threat for well-developed welfare states in Europe by the president of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem. According to him, external borders have to be guarded, because otherwise ‘loads of people will come to demand support and they blow up the system’. Dijsselbloem’s statement raises the question how welfare has been used by states to govern, coerce, mobilize and pacify their citizens and if welfare has always been framed in such exclusive terms. For example, to what extent was the provision dependent on working ability and citizenship and what was the status of people out of work and of guest workers, refugees and migrants from the (former) colonies? Moreover, was the welfare provision (or the lack thereof) framed in terms of rights or entitlements, reward or punishment and did changes occur in this respect over time, for example, through the introduction of reforms based on the principle of (creeping) conditionality? What were the similarities and differences in the ways in which democratic and authoritarian regimes operated their welfare mechanisms and how could welfare be turned into a subject of ideological competition? Moreover, what was the legacy of pre war welfare tradition: what ruptures and continuities can be detected in this respect? Read more and source … (Web)