The welfare state has a particular historical origin: it emerged with the rise of the nation state in Western and Northern Europe, responding to the needs for political legitimacy of national governments. Will the welfare state be still relevant in an age of globalization? Will the welfare state – like the core institutions of Western societies, market and democracy – shape the social structure and culture of a global society?

SocialWorld aims to advance the new research perspective ‘global social policy’ which has been emerging since the late 1990s. SocialWorld sets out to link three strands of research which are only starting to perceive each other: theories of the ‘world society’ (John W. Meyer, Niklas Luhmann, Rudolf Stichweh), Western welfare state research and area studies of developing and transitional countries, especially in East Asia.

Rather than viewing social policy only as a dependent variable of economic globalization we inquire whether social ideas, social law and organisational models of the welfare state are becoming ‘globalized’ in their own right. The emphasis is on three fields of research: 1. International organisations and global actors and discourses 2. ‘New welfare states’ in transitional societies 3. The emergence of new ways of living and of an individualized ‘life course’ in the wake of welfare state institutions.

new project (2004): Social assistance in developing and transitional countries (GTZ) (see "Projects")