IPR is co-sponsoring a conference on May 18 that will offer comparative perspectives on the American welfare state and other advanced democracies. It will examine the role of political-economic institutions, partisan electoral strategy, decentralized initiatives, ideologies, and changing gender relations.

Scheduled speakers include Theda Skocpol, Harvard University, who will address trends in the United States, and John Stephens and Evelyne Huber, University of North Carolina, who will look at broad trends cross-nationally. Desmond King, Oxford University, will compare workfare in the United States and Britain, and Margaret Weir, University of California, Berkeley, will discuss welfare state decentralization.

Conference organizers Kathleen Thelen and Peter Swenson (IPR-Political Science) and Ann Orloff (IPR-Sociology) are arranging the event in conjunction with Northwestern’s Center for International and Comparative Studies.

The conference will be held at Norris University Center in Evanston.