CROSS-BORDER INFLUENCES IN SOCIAL POLICY
ESPANET 2008 Conference
Helsinki, Finland, September 18–20, 2008
Updates
* * *
Conference registration continues for those with accepted papers
The Conference is now fully booked. We can no longer confirm participation
for participants without a paper. However, we continue to accept registrations
from colleagues who have not yet registered and whose abstract has been accepted
for presentation or as a contributed paper.
If you are presenting a paper, go to Registration to see the
information and registration form. As an extra service you can also book your
accomodation with the same form unless you want to organise it yourself.
* * *
The ESPANET 2008 conference in Helsinki
The ESPANET 2008 conference in Helsinki addresses cross-border influences in
social policy. In the conditions of globalization today, the diffusion of ideas
concerning social policy across national borders is highly topical. Diffusion of
ideas has been accelerated by the process of globalization itself, and also by
activities of international organizations such as the UN, the World Bank, the
IMF, the OECD and the EU. Also, at a time of globalised markets, multinational
corporations and their activities set new challenges for the development of
national social policy.
Yet, cross-border influences in social policy are not only a phenomenon of
the 2000s. In practically all countries, the historical developments in social
policy can be traced back to a number of different international roots at
different times. The international ingredients have contributed to the national
mixtures, differently in every country. Old impacts still play a role in today’s
social policy practice.
This ESPAnet Conference in September 2008 thus looks forward into the global
future of cross-border influences in social policy, but also analyzes the
earlier experience of diffusion of social policy ideas. The conference offers a
forum for debating policy learning, and lessons and evidence from exporting,
importing and integrating ideas. The conference also enables discussing
methodological issues in doing research on cross-border influences in social
policy.
The Conference will be preceded by a two-day doctoral workshop, arranged
jointly by ESPAnet and RECWOWE, a European network of excellence on Reconciling
Work and Welfare.
The local organizing committee is headed by the Finnish Association of Social
Policy with representatives from the University of Helsinki and three national
research institutes in the field of social policy (ETK, the Finnish Centre for
Pensions; KELA, the Social Insurance Institution; Stakes, National Research and
Development Centre for Welfare and Health).
Chairman of the organising
committee: mikko.kautto@etk.fi