The course addresses questions that are at the core of Political Economy and Comparative Politics: How do individuals respond to risk and insecurity? How does uncertainty affect political behavior, preferences and attitudes? In times of shifting social boundaries, technological change, globalization, migration, and climate change, how do such transformations influence how people vote, engage in politics or view the state as such? How does risk, understood in its multiple forms – that is, risk following from economic volatility, fear toward social and cultural change, risk to fall victim to crime or repression – influence the likelihood to engage in political activism, voice demands for state action and shape citizens’ view toward the state?
In the course of the seminar we address different types of risk, covering major theoretical perspectives and scholarly work in IPE, CPE and Comparative Politics: starting with economic insecurity following from income volatility (change in inequality, risk of job loss), technological innovation (automation and digitalization), globalization (off shoring, exposure to the international market) and migration (inflow of refugees, labor market migration), we take into account risks that arise through state failure (e. g. criminal violence and protection rackets) and climate change (responses to natural catastrophes). Moreover, we take into account how risk calculations influence the likelihood to engage in collective action capacity, such as revolt and protest in developing countries and thereby affect the odds of democratization. While focusing on risk, the course teaches classical theories of individual decision-making, preference formation and collective action.
Focusing on the microfoundation of risks and politics, we mainly study individual behavior and preferences, tapping into the political psychology literature and behavioral economics. We will encounter formal models, experimental work (lab experiments, survey experiments, lab-in-the-field), but also quantitative work based on observational data and qualitative case studies. Examples will be drawn from the research frontier on distributive politics and political economy questions on both advanced industrial democracies and developing countries. We discuss challenges of causal identification and research logic.
Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:
Mares, I. (2003). The politics of social risk: Business and welfare state development. Cambridge University Press.
Rehm, Philipp (2016) Risk inequality and welfare states: social policy preferences, development, and dynamics. Cambridge University Press.
Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:
Term paper/Hausarbeit 6CP; Referat und schriftliche Ausarbeitung des Referats bei 3CP/ In-class presentation and written report of presentation topic for 3 CP
