Political Sustainability of Social Welfare Policy: Research Design & Challenges

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

This roundtable will discuss how to design research on the causes of policy success in some of the hardest cases: programs that aim to improve social welfare for traditionally disenfranchised groups. How do we understand why some policies for members of marginalized groups succeed in the long term whereas so many others do not? What are the challenges to conducting and analyzing research in this domain?

This roundtable brings together scholars who are conducting ongoing research about why and how policies aiming to improve social welfare succeed in promoting (versus inhibiting) meaningful long-term change. We consider a range of policies spanning political representation, redistributive reforms, and social rights.

Sub Unit

• Division 12: Comparative Politics of Developing Countries

Chair

• Rachel Beatty Riedl Cornell University

Presenters

• Ben Ross Schneider Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Milli Lake London School of Economics

• Nita Rudra Georgetown University

• Jessica Rich Marquette University