91217 - POLITICHE DEL LAVORO E DELLE RISORSE UMANE

Learning outcomes

The students have a good knowledge in analysing the current characteristics of labor market policies in a comparative perspective.  This knowledge will allow them to have a good expertise as regards to the definition and planning of active and passive labor market policies.

Course contents

The course focuses on labour market policies adopting a comparative and interdisciplinary approach. The analysis is organized as follows: a first descriptive provides information on labour market policies (definition, programs, analytical dimensions), a second depicts their evolution interpreting the emerging regimes in the vast international panorama. An explanatory third dimension identifies the causal mechanisms of change based on political, economic and social factors.

The course will address the following topics:

- Labour market policies: definition, characteristics and comparative aspects

- Labour market policies: programs

- Labour market policies in Europe and the United States: from the origins till the 1990s

- The emerging regimes of labour market policies in the 2000s

Readings/Bibliography

The reference textbook for the examination is the following:

Rizza R., Scarano G. (2019), Nuovi modelli di politica del lavoro, Milano, Egea.

Useful books and articles to which reference will be made in class, are the following:

Hemerijck A. (2013), Changing welfare states, Oxford University Press

Thelen K. (2014), Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity, Cambridge University Press.

Alber J. (2010), What the European and American welfare states have in common and where they differ: facts and fiction in comparison of the European Social Model and United States, in the Journal of European Social Policy, Volume (20): 102- 125.

Castles F.G. et al. (2010) (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Dingelday I. (2007), Between workfare and enablement. The different paths to transformation of the welfare state: A comparative analysis of activating labor market policies, in European Journal of Political Research, Volume (46): 823-851.

Cantillon B., F. Vandenbroucke (2014), Reconciling work and poverty reduction: how successful are European welfare states? New York, Oxford University Press.

B. Palier, 2010 A long goodbye to the politics of Bismarck ?: Welfare Reforms in continental Europe, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2010.

Rizza R., Gualmini E., “Activation, Employability, and Recent Trends in Labour Policies: a Comparison of the Italian and German Cases”, in Sozialer Fortschritt, German Review of Social Policy, Vol. 63, N. 6, 2014, pp. 131-139.

Emmenegger et al. (2012), The Age of Dualization, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Dolvik J., Martin A. (2015), European Social Models from Crisis to Crisis, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

 

Teaching methods

The course is divided into modules and complementary activities. Lectures will be alternated with group discussions, case studies and movies aimed at deepening the topics covered in class. Presentations will be conducted by students on the topics covered in class.

Assessment methods

Written examination of the duration of 2 hours, during which it is not allowed the use of books, notes, and electronic media. The test consists of 3 questions that refer to some topics addressed in class and in the reference book.

The written test is aimed at assessing the critical and methodological skills of the students and their ability to confront the texts and the topics covered during the course. The supplementary activities carried out in class and the presentations are part of the final evaluation.

For those not attending classes the exam is oral.

Teaching tools

Videos, essays and articles not included in the texts, but particularly significant for the topics covered in class.

Slides and other teaching materials will be available to the students in electronic format on the IOL platform. Username and password are reserved for students enrolled at the University of Bologna.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Rizza