Scott L. Greer

COVID-19 is the most significant global crisis of any of our lifetimes. The numbers have been stupefying, whether of infection and mortality, the scale of public health measures, or the economic consequences of shutdown. Coronavirus Politics identifies key threads in the global comparative discussion that continue to shed light on COVID-19 and shape debates about what it means for scholarship in health and comparative politics. Editors Scott L. Greer, Elizabeth J. King, Elize Massard da Fonseca, and André Peralta-Santos bring together over 30 authors versed in politics and the health issues in order to understand the health policy decisions, the public health interventions, the social policy decisions, their interactions, and the reasons. The book’s coverage is global, with a wide range of key and exemplary countries, and contains a mixture of comparative, thematic, and templated country studies. All go beyond reporting and monitoring to develop explanations that draw on the authors' expertise while engaging in structured conversations across the book.

What does federalism do to welfare states? This question arises in scholarly debates about policy design as well as in discussions about the right political institutions for a country. It has frustrated many, with federalism seeming to matter in all sorts of combinations with all sorts of issues, from nationalism to racism to intergovernmental competition. The diffuse federalism literature has not come to compelling answers for very basic questions. Scott L. Greer, Daniel Béland, André Lecours, and Kenneth A. Dubin argue for a new approach—one methodologically focused on configurations of variables within cases rather than a fruitless attempt to isolate “the” effect of federalism; and one that is substantively engaged with identifying key elements in configurations as well as with when and how their interactions matter. Born out of their work on a multi-year, eleven-country project (published as Federalism and Social Policy: Patterns of Redistribution in Eleven Countries, University of Michigan Press, 2019), this book comprises a methodological and substantive agenda. Methodologically, the authors shift to studies that embraced and understood the complexity within which federal political institutions operate. Substantively, they make an argument for the importance of plurinationalism, changing economic interests, and institutional legacies.

What does federalism do to welfare states? This question arises in scholarly debates about policy design as well as in discussions about the right political institutions for a country. It has frustrated many, with federalism seeming to matter in all sorts of combinations with all sorts of issues, from nationalism to racism to intergovernmental competition. The diffuse federalism literature has not come to compelling answers for very basic questions. Scott L. Greer, Daniel Béland, André Lecours, and Kenneth A. Dubin argue for a new approach—one methodologically focused on configurations of variables within cases rather than a fruitless attempt to isolate “the” effect of federalism; and one that is substantively engaged with identifying key elements in configurations as well as with when and how their interactions matter. Born out of their work on a multi-year, eleven-country project (published as Federalism and Social Policy: Patterns of Redistribution in Eleven Countries, University of Michigan Press, 2019), this book comprises a methodological and substantive agenda. Methodologically, the authors shift to studies that embraced and understood the complexity within which federal political institutions operate. Substantively, they make an argument for the importance of plurinationalism, changing economic interests, and institutional legacies.

One of the most important political and economic challenges facing Europe and elsewhere is the ageing of societies. Must ageing populations create conflict between generations and crisis for health systems? Our answer is no. The problem is not so much demographic change as the political and policy challenge of creating fair, sustainable and effective policies for people of all ages. This book, based on a large European Observatory study, uses new evidence to challenge some of the myths surrounding ageing and its effects on economies and health systems. Cataclysmic views of population ageing are often based on stereotypes and anecdotes unsupported by evidence. How we address ageing societies is a choice. Societies can choose policies that benefit people of all ages, promoting equity both within and between generations, and political coalitions can be built to support such policies. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Federalism and Social Policy focuses on the crucial question: Is a strong and egalitarian welfare state compatible with federalism? In this carefully curated collection, Scott L. Greer, Heather Elliott, and the contributors explore the relationship between decentralization and the welfare state to determine whether or not decentralization has negative consequences for welfare. The contributors examine a variety of federal countries, including Spain, Canada, and the United Kingdom, asking four key questions related to decentralization: (1) Are there regional welfare states (such as Scotland, Minnesota, etc.)? (2) How much variation is there in the structures of federal welfare states? (3) Is federalism bad for welfare? (4) Does austerity recentralize or decentralize welfare states? By focusing on money and policy instead of law and constitutional politics, the volume shows that federalism shapes regional governments and policies even when decentralization exists.

This study is the first large-scale comparison of policy and divergence in the UK since devolution. Based on extensive original research, it argues that we see substantial divergence in policies and social citizenship among the four parts of the UK as its autonomous political systems try to solve the unpredictable and difficult puzzles of health policy-making.

This volume takes an enlightened step back from the ongoing discussion of globalization. The authors reject the notion that globalization is an analytically useful term. Rather, this volume shows globalization as merely the framework of the current political debate on the future of world power. Some of the many other novel ideas advanced by the authors include: the explicit prediction that East Asia is not going to become the center of the world; the contention that the USSR collapsed for the same reasons that nearly brought down the United States in 1973; and the notion that the regional economic networks that are emerging from under the modern states are in fact rather old formations. The articles in the volume are organized around three main themes. Part One explores both the changing patterns of global power from the viewpoint of geopolitics and the Gramscian approach to the study of international relations. Part Two further develops the debate among a number of eminent historians and sociologists challenging both the apologists for and the opponents of globalization in new and unexpected ways. Part Three traces the emergence of regional economic networks and explores the ambiguous problems of security and identity posed by the old-new transborder formations.

This volume takes an enlightened step back from the ongoing discussion of globalization. The authors reject the notion that globalization is an analytically useful term. Rather, this volume shows globalization as merely the framework of the current political debate on the future of world power. Some of the many other novel ideas advanced by the authors include: the explicit prediction that East Asia is not going to become the center of the world; the contention that the USSR collapsed for the same reasons that nearly brought down the United States in 1973; and the notion that the regional economic networks that are emerging from under the modern states are in fact rather old formations. The articles in the volume are organized around three main themes. Part One explores both the changing patterns of global power from the viewpoint of geopolitics and the Gramscian approach to the study of international relations. Part Two further develops the debate among a number of eminent historians and sociologists challenging both the apologists for and the opponents of globalization in new and unexpected ways. Part Three traces the emergence of regional economic networks and explores the ambiguous problems of security and identity posed by the old-new transborder formations.