Preliminary Programme

Wed 12 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 13 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Fri 14 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 15 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00

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Saturday 15 April 2023 08.30 - 10.30
Y-13 POL13 Precursors of the Welfare State
Västra Hamngatan 25 AK2 138
Network: Politics, Citizenship, and Nations Chair: Johannes Lindvall
Organizers: - Discussants: -
Simone Guerzoni : The Origins of the Welfare State: a Comparative Study of the United Kingdom and the Italian Republic, 1948-1978
The British post-war period could be considered, from an international point of view, to have one of the most important historical moments of social and political change. In it there are many elements of what we can consider as the longest period of socialtransition in of contemporary history. The main ... (Show more)
The British post-war period could be considered, from an international point of view, to have one of the most important historical moments of social and political change. In it there are many elements of what we can consider as the longest period of socialtransition in of contemporary history. The main consideration that arises on this long transition is the theory of the fallen giant of Britain due to the important changes of the Second World War; but, in this context, there emerged a socialist reality that would have the intention of revolutionizing much of the administrative and political work of an already consolidated democracy. The concept of socialist reformism is present in the history of the British Labour Party and should be adequately explored, as should the consideration of the political internationalism of much of British socialism. The British post-war period has often been regarded as conservative and nationalist from the point of view of the United Kingdom’s search for a new international role, but it is important to understand the significance of new elements that emerged in the British domestic setting as the world moved towards division into two opposing blocs during the Cold War. This thesis proposes to analyze the relationship between theBritish government and the rest of the post-war international community, by focusing on its influence upon the new Italian Republic with regard to the provision of healthcare. The intention to investigate the Italian case and its inspiration by the British welfare system, allows us to have a unilateral vision of the international dimension of the Italian post-war period.The aims of this research project include to describe and analyze the origins and development of the welfare state in the United Kingdom and Italy after the second world, in order to understand how the Italian Republic developed its institutions, from 1945 to 1978, especially regarding its reference to the British policy solutions in the field of healthcare. Focusing on the evolution of both National Healthcare reforms and other important laws during the period between 1948 and 1978, the expected result will be to identify and explain the similarities between the two systems by consulting the documents held by the national archives of both Britain and Italy, as well as the existing historiography. In conclusion, the central role of the state is considered one of the most important tools to manage crises and social development, especially during this time of pandemic, which renders it timely to understand how important the role of the state is to the organization of our society. (Show less)

Ilkka Kärrylä : The Young Finns Party and the Plan for Neoliberal Retasking of the Welfare State in Post-Cold War Finland
This paper provides a perspective on liberal political thought in post-Cold War Finland by examining the small Young Finns party, which entered parliament for one term in the 1990s and gained notable public attention. The paper analyses the party’s political philosophy, which emphasized individualism against collectivism and criticized Finland’s state-centered ... (Show more)
This paper provides a perspective on liberal political thought in post-Cold War Finland by examining the small Young Finns party, which entered parliament for one term in the 1990s and gained notable public attention. The paper analyses the party’s political philosophy, which emphasized individualism against collectivism and criticized Finland’s state-centered political culture. Special focus is on the party’s ideas of reforming the Finnish welfare state. The Young Finns wanted to retain universal education and healthcare services but pursued radical tax, social security and labour market reforms. Many of their ideas, such as negative income tax, service vouchers and abolishing earnings-related benefits, took inspiration from well-known neoliberal thinkers. Drawing on latest
research on neoliberalism, the paper argues that the Young Finns represented a Finnish variant of neoliberalism in their goal of retasking the welfare state into a slimmer enabler of individual freedom. The importance of the welfare state as a concept distinguishes Finnish and Nordic neoliberalism from the tradition’s Anglo-Saxon variants. Even though the Young Finns did not wield concrete political power, they played an important role in channeling the liberal and individualistic zeitgeist of the 1990s that gradually changed Finnish political culture and welfare state in a neoliberal direction. (Show less)

Cristina Teresa-Morales, Ramos-Cobano, Cristina & Feria-Lorenzo, Diego José : Between Hospitals and Hospices; Public Complaints of Corruption Concerning Spanish Beneficent Centers before the Charity Act of 1822
In medieval and modern Europe, attention to poverty was taken up by the Catholic Church, bound by the principle of Christian charity. New currents of thought, influenced by Humanism, the Enlightenment and Liberalism, began to mark a clear trend towards the laicization of their structures, which gave rise to the ... (Show more)
In medieval and modern Europe, attention to poverty was taken up by the Catholic Church, bound by the principle of Christian charity. New currents of thought, influenced by Humanism, the Enlightenment and Liberalism, began to mark a clear trend towards the laicization of their structures, which gave rise to the foundations of modern charity, progressively monopolized by the State to the detriment of the Church as the protagonist of management and control.
In Spain, although with a later beginning and a slower development, the public charity system began to take shape in the first half of the nineteenth century, with the Charity Act of 1822 as its first legislative expression. In the parliamentary debates that engendered this law, it is noted that the MPs were aware of various abuses and frauds associated with the management of the centers destined to the provision of charity, but to this day it is still unknown if public opinion was aware of them. Since public scandal is an essential component for such practices to be understood as examples of corruption, in this paper we aim to identify any allegations of abuse or fraud related to the various charities that may exist in the press during the year prior to the enactment of the 1822 law.
To this aim, we have focused our attention on the Digital Press Library of the Spanish National Library, researching the 23 national and regional serial newspapers attached to the province of Madrid. In them, a total of 358 references to these establishments have been detected, 70 of which were related to our objective. Their analysis has allowed us to identify and classify various forms of corruption that allow us to conclude that, although the funds destined for these purposes were not sufficient to cover them, their embezzlement was systematic. On the other hand, we have also detected news regarding the mismanagement carried out by the municipalities, councils or charity boards; in short, the civil authority in charge of the provision of these aids, so it can be said that the abuses to the system came from the first to the last step of the administrative pyramid, as well as from its own beneficiaries. The deputies intended to correct these deviations by implementing control measures in the law to abolish the different perversions of a flawed and clientelist system. However, hardly any news has been found regarding the abandonment of functions or the poor attention paid by the personnel destined to take care of the poor in the charitable establishments, and the references of them in the press recognize and magnify the benefits of their activity. (Show less)



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