Welfare and justice in planetary health: Welfare States in the Ecological Transformation

Effective climate protection and social justice require a far-reaching transformation at the heart of which the state acts as a structuring actor of society. In this seminar, participants will deal the latest research on the role of the welfare state in the ecological transformation. Participants will to be able to identify institutionalised mechanisms of unsustainability and to evaluate ideas for transformation towards systems of sustainable welfare and planetary health. The course will, for example, address the following topics:

• Why is climate and environmental protection not being implemented to a sufficient degree despite the knowledge of its importance for human survival? What role does social policy play in this?
• Is there a connection between welfare state regimes and their impact on environmental protection?
• What challenges and opportunities arise for the ecological transformation of welfare states?
• Which policy ideas from the research field of Eco-social Policy exist for solutions and how can these be implemented in practice?

The seminar consists of two blocks. In the first part, the basics of sustainable welfare and planetary health will be taught, in the second block the latest research in the field of eco-social policy will be explored. Participants will have the opportunity to set their own priorities and can choose between research-orientated and a policy-orientated examination tasks.