Welfare mix 2100-SPP-L-D4WMIX
This course examines the evolution of social policy provision from state-dominated welfare states to multifaceted, multi-actor systems. It covers theoretical frameworks such as welfare mix, co-production, and polycentric governance, and applies these perspectives across various social policy domains (e.g., healthcare, long-term care, employment services, and education). Students will learn how multiple stakeholders—public agencies, private firms, nonprofit organizations, communities, and families—interact to shape service delivery, financing, and regulation in increasingly complex and adaptive welfare ecosystems.
Course Title: Welfare Mix: From Welfare State to Welfare Complexity
Block I: Foundations and Historical Baselines
These sessions establish the baseline of the state-centric model and introduce the idea of multiple actors gradually entering the scene.
Seminar 1: Understanding the Welfare State
Explanation: Introduces the classic welfare state as a dominant provider of social services post-WWII. Sets a historical baseline and explains why this model was once considered the pinnacle of social protection.
Seminar 2: Emergence of the Welfare Mix and Welfare Pluralism
Explanation: Shows how critiques of the state’s limitations opened space for private firms, charities, and community actors. Introduces “welfare mix” or “welfare pluralism” as concepts capturing the involvement of multiple sectors.
Block II: Sector Failures and Theoretical Underpinnings
These sessions move from describing multiple actors to theorizing why they appear and how they interact, using failure theories and early governance frameworks.
Seminar 3: Market Failure, State Failure, and Voluntary Failure
Explanation: Explores how no single sector is perfect. Market failures justify state involvement; state failures create opportunities for voluntary and private actors; voluntary failures highlight capacity constraints. Sets the stage for a multi-actor rationale.
Seminar 4: The Third Sector and Its Evolving Role
Explanation: Examines the nonprofit/voluntary sector’s complex position. Initially marginal, it gained prominence via contracting and commissioning. Emphasizes that the third sector is part of a broader mix, not the sole alternative to the state.
Seminar 5: “Third Party Government” and Beyond
Explanation: Introduces conceptual frameworks (e.g., Salamon’s third party government) that explain how the state governs through other actors. Shows how theoretical models moved from static sectoral distinctions to understanding complex interdependencies.
Block III: Governance, Provision, and Financing in a Polycentric World
Shifts from mapping who provides what to examining how governance, provision, and financing arrangements reflect complex interactions among multiple stakeholders.
Seminar 6: Welfare Mix as Governance – Networks, Partnerships, and Contracting
Explanation: Emphasizes that the welfare mix is not just a distribution of roles but also a governance challenge. Explores commissioning, contracting out, and performance management as tools that restructure relationships among sectors.
Seminar 7: Provision Perspective – Co-production, Co-creation, and Service Design
Explanation: Moves from just identifying multiple providers to understanding how services are produced collaboratively. Co-production and co-creation highlight user involvement, frontline innovation, and the blending of professional and citizen knowledge.
Seminar 8: Financing Perspective – Tax Expenditures, Social Investment, and Hybrid Funding
Explanation: Shows how complex funding streams (public grants, philanthropic donations, private insurance, social impact bonds) shape the welfare mix. Financing strategies influence which actors flourish and how risks and responsibilities are shared.
Block IV: Policy Domains Under Complexity
Applies the frameworks to real-world sectors, illustrating that complexity manifests differently depending on the policy arena, yet follows similar principles of multi-actor involvement, co-governance, and adaptive arrangements.
Seminar 9: Employment Services and Activation Policies
Explanation: Examines how state agencies, private contractors, and nonprofits deliver employment programs. Shows how market-like incentives and co-production with local communities adapt to changing labor market conditions.
Seminar 10: Social Care and Long-Term Care
Explanation: Focuses on the interplay of family care, informal networks, public provision, for-profit institutions, and nonprofits. Highlights personalization and user choice as complexity-driven solutions in an aging society.
Seminar 11: Health Care and Education Systems
Explanation: Illustrates how hospitals, clinics, schools, private providers, and community groups form intricate service networks. Discusses quality assurance, accountability, and user feedback as part of a complex adaptive system.
Block V: Toward Complexity, Polycentricity, and Antifragility
Shows how complexity theories and advanced governance concepts provide a meta-lens for understanding welfare’s dynamic and uncertain future.
Seminar 12: Complexity Theory in Public Policy
Explanation: Introduces complexity as a unifying lens. Policy problems, especially in human services, do not have linear solutions. Feedback loops, nonlinearity, and emergent behaviors shape outcomes in unpredictable ways.
Seminar 13: Polycentric Governance and Multi-Level Systems
Explanation: Explores the idea of multiple overlapping centers of authority. With local, national, and even transnational actors involved, polycentric governance provides flexibility and responsiveness in complex welfare ecosystems.
Seminar 14: Fragility, Antifragility, and Adaptive Capacity
Explanation: Moves beyond resilience to antifragility: systems that thrive under stress. Explores how diverse stakeholders, modular service delivery, and iterative policy design help welfare systems adapt and improve amid uncertainties.
Block VI: Synthesis and Looking Forward
Seminar 15: From the Welfare State to Welfare Complexity – Reflections and Futures
Explanation: Concludes the course by reflecting on the journey from state-centric models to an era of complexity. Recaps key theories, frameworks, and practical approaches. Discusses future trends, including digital platforms, global shocks, and new forms of collaborative governance.
Założenia (opisowo)
Koordynatorzy przedmiotu
Efekty kształcenia
KNOWLEDGE – upon completion of the course, the student:
W1 Characterises the institutional complexity of contemporary welfare states, identifying the role of and interrelationships between the public, private, voluntary and informal sectors in the delivery of social services.
(reference to programme learning outcome: K_W05)
W2 Explains theoretical concepts of multi-sectoral social policy, including the notions of welfare mix, polycentricity and co-production, and their application in the analysis of social policy systems at various levels – local, urban, regional and international.
(reference to programme learning outcome: K_W06)
W3 Describes the principles of social entrepreneurship and public-private partnerships as instruments for achieving social policy objectives.
(reference to programme learning outcome: K_W07)
W4 Considers normative and ethical dilemmas associated with the involvement of different sectors in the delivery of social services, including issues of accountability, accessibility and quality of provision.
(reference to programme learning outcome: K_W08)
SKILLS – upon completion of the course, the student:
U1 Identifies economic, social and cultural determinants of multi-sectoral social policy and interprets the relationships between various welfare mix actors in specific national and local contexts.
(reference to programme learning outcome: K_U03)
U2 Analyses the connections between normative assumptions and practical institutional arrangements in the field of welfare mix, evaluating the consequences of adopting particular models of multi-sectoral social policy.
(reference to programme learning outcome: K_U05)
Kryteria oceniania
## Revised Assessment of Your Approach
The addition of a case assignment significantly strengthens the alignment between assessment methods and learning outcomes. Students will now have an opportunity to demonstrate analytical and evaluative skills (U1, U2) through sustained written work, rather than relying solely on in-class activities. The country-specific focus also ensures students engage with real institutional arrangements and normative questions (W4) in a concrete context.
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## Methods and Assessment Criteria
Course assessment is based on continuous evaluation using the following components:
Pre-class assignments (20% of final grade)
Students complete Google Forms assignments before each class session. These assignments verify preparation and basic understanding of course material. Assessment criteria: timely submission (before the relevant class session) and demonstration of engagement with assigned readings through substantive responses. Each assignment is graded on a pass/fail basis. Students must complete at least 80% of assignments with a passing grade to fulfil this component.
(Verifies outcomes: W1, W2, W3, W4)
In-class MCQ tests (30% of final grade)
Two multiple-choice tests are conducted during the semester. These tests verify knowledge acquisition and understanding of key concepts, theories and institutional arrangements. The final grade for this component is the average of both tests. A minimum score of 50% on each test is required to pass.
(Verifies outcomes: W1, W2, W3, W4, U1)
Active participation in workshops and discussions (20% of final grade)
Students are expected to actively participate in workshop activities and class discussions. Assessment criteria: quality of contributions demonstrating analytical thinking, ability to apply theoretical concepts to empirical cases, and engagement with normative questions. Attendance at a minimum of 80% of sessions is required. Students who attend but do not actively participate receive a reduced grade for this component.
(Verifies outcomes: W4, U1, U2)
Case assignment (30% of final grade)
Students prepare an individual written assignment (1500–2000 words) analysing the multi-sector provision of a selected social service in their country of origin or residence. The assignment should identify the specific roles played by public, private, voluntary and informal sectors in delivering the chosen service, examine the relationships and coordination mechanisms between these sectors, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the existing welfare mix arrangement from both practical and normative perspectives.
Assessment criteria:
- accurate identification of actors and their roles across sectors
- application of theoretical concepts from the course (welfare mix, polycentricity, co-production, public-private partnerships)
- quality of analysis regarding inter-sectoral relationships and coordination
- critical reflection on normative and ethical dimensions
- clarity of argumentation and proper use of sources
Submission deadline: to be announced in the course schedule. Late submissions receive a reduced grade unless prior arrangement has been made.
(Verifies outcomes: W1, W2, W3, W4, U1, U2)
Grading scale:
90–100% – 5 (very good)
80–89% – 4+ (good plus)
70–79% – 4 (good)
60–69% – 3+ (satisfactory plus)
50–59% – 3 (satisfactory)
Below 50% – 2 (fail)
To pass the course, students must achieve a minimum of 50% overall and fulfil the minimum requirements for each component.
Praktyki zawodowe
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Literatura
Powell, M. (ed.) (2019) Understanding the Mixed Economy of Welfare, 2nd edition, Policy Press.
Salamon, L. M. (ed.) (2002) The Tools of Government: A Guide to the New Governance, Oxford University Press.
Ostrom, E. (2010) ‘Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems’, American Economic Review, 100(3): 641–672.
Brandsen, T., Pestoff, V. & Verschuere, B. (eds.) (2012) New Public Governance, the Third Sector and Co-Production, Routledge.
Bovaird, T. & Loeffler, E. (2012) ‘From Engagement to Co-production: How Users and Communities Contribute to Public Services’, Voluntas, 23(4): 1119–1138.
Teisman, G. R., Van Buuren, A. & Gerrits, L. (eds.) (2009) Managing Complex Governance Systems: Dynamics, Self-Organization and Coevolution in Public Investments, Routledge.
Rhodes, M. L., Murray, J. & Donnelly, J. (eds.) (2010) Public Management and Complexity Theory: Richer Decision-Making in Public Services, Routledge.
Additional readings and policy reports will be recommended throughout the semester to enrich understanding and support the analysis of specific policy domains.
Więcej informacji
Dodatkowe informacje (np. o kalendarzu rejestracji, prowadzących zajęcia, lokalizacji i terminach zajęć) mogą być dostępne w serwisie USOSweb: