Dr Dann Naseemullah

MSc Comparative Politics, MSc Politics and Government in the European Union, MSc Political Science and Political Economy, MSc Global Politics, MSc Public Policy and Administration, LSE-PKU Double Degree in Public Administration and Government and LSE-Sciences Po Double Degree in European Studies.

This course provides an overview of contemporary redistributive politics in the rich democracies. The objective is to explain why the distribution of wealth, income and opportunities differs so much between democratic countries with similar levels of economic development. The course draws largely on literature from the field of comparative politics, although perspectives from other disciplines - such as economics and social policy - are brought in as appropriate. The focus is on tracing the interactions between political institutions such as political parties and elections, labour market institutions, and the redistributive institutions of the welfare state. This approach is used to examine the growth of the public sector in the twentieth century, the differences between Social Democratic and Christian Democratic welfare states, the impact of wage bargaining institutions, the redistributive implications of age, gender and territorial location, and redistribution through corruption and rent-seeking. By tracing interactions between constitutional arrangements, electoral politics, and the institutions of the welfare system and the labour market, explanations can be provided for the striking differences in social cohesion and human development amongst the world's rich democracies.

One-hour lecture and 90 minute seminar every week for ten weeks in the Lent Term and two revision sessions in the third and fourth weeks of the Summer Term.

All students are expected to submit one non-assessed essay.

Esping-Andersen, Gosta (1990), The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press; Pontusson, Jonas (2005). Inequality and Prosperity. Ithaca: Cornell University Press; Kenworthy, Lane (2004). Egalitarian Capitalism. New York: Russell Sage Foundation; Boix, Carles (2003). Democracy and Redistribution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Alesina, Alberto and Edward Glaeser (2004). Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe. A World of Difference. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

One two-hour unseen examination in the ST (100%).