SP200 One Unit
Comparative and International Social Policy
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Timo Fleckenstein
Availability
This course is compulsory on the BSc in International Social and Public Policy, BSc in International Social and Public Policy with Economics and BSc in International Social and Public Policy with Politics. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course is not available to General Course students.
This course is capped. Places will be assigned on a first come first served basis.
Requisites
Pre-requisites:
Students must have completed SP100 before taking this course.
Course content
The course introduces the comparative method in social policy research as well as the main analytical approaches to understanding social policy developments in high income countries. By examining the interaction between social policy, employment and families, it explores how and why different countries pursue different paths and how this may be changing.
The course also examines social policy in middle- and low-income countries and explores the forces shaping both how policy problems are perceived and the impact of key international and supranational institutions on social policy-making in different areas of the world.
Teaching
15 hours of lectures and 15 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.
15 hours of lectures and 15 hours of classes in the Winter Term.
1.5 hours of classes in the Spring Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.
All teaching will be in accordance with the LSE Academic Code which specifies a "minimum of two hours taught contact time per week when the course is running in the Autumn Term (AT) and/or Winter Term (WT)". Social Policy courses are predominantly taught through a combination of in-person lectures and in-person classes/seminars. Further information will be provided by the Course Convenor in the first lecture of the course.
Formative assessment
Mock exam
Students are expected to sit one Mock exam in WT and expected to read for and prepare contributions to class discussion each week.
Indicative reading
P Beramendi, S Häusermann, H Kitschelt & H Kriesi (eds) (2015) The Politics of Advanced Capitalism
D Béland, S Leibfried, KJ Morgan, H Obinger & C Pierson (eds) (2022) The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, 2nd edition
B Deacon (2007) Global Social Policy and Governance
I Gough & G Wood (eds) (2004) Insecurity and Welfare Regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America
A Hemerijck (ed) (2017) The Uses of Social Investment
J Lewis (2009) Work-Family Balance, Gender and Policy
N Yeates & C Holden (eds) (2022) Understanding Global Social Policy, 3rd edition
Assessment
Exam (80%), duration: 180 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Essay (20%) in Autumn Term Week 8
Student will submit one summative essay (20%) in AT, and sit an in-person e-Exam in Spring term (80%)
Key facts
Department: Social Policy
Course Study Period: Autumn and Winter Term
Unit value: One unit
FHEQ Level: Level 5
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 57
Average class size 2024/25: 14
Capped 2024/25: Yes(60)Course selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.