Welfare and Human Mobility in Europe: Past and Present Challenges
Conference
Organized by the Department of History, University of Basel, the University of Neuchâtel, and the nccr – on the move
Thursday and Friday, 12 – 13 May 2022
Venue: University of Basel and Mission 21, Missionsstrasse 21, Basel
On 12 May 2022 Keynote Lecture from 18:15 – 20:15 and followed by a dinner and on 13 May 2022 from 09:00 – 18:00
Abstract
This conference investigates the intersection between Welfare and human mobility in Europe since the mid-20th century. After World War II, migration, mobility and related policies acted both as a challenge and an engine for Welfare regimes in Europe, on a national and transnational level. The conference investigates three sites of the Welfare-mobility-nexus.
Section 1: European Integration
Since the Treaty of Rome (1958), European integration relied on open borders for migrants coming from within the Community, but also on coordinated and aligned levels of social security. Geographically, the conference focuses on Europe with its varied institutions and political experiences, but also its diverse forms of mobility, domestic and international. The mechanisms and dynamics of different policies and the invention of new Welfare institutions in response to problematic effects of mobility and migration, in particular increased social and legal inequality.
Section 2: Colonial Legacies
Welfare policies in Europe were not only challenged by intra-European mobility, but also by millions of people coming from (former) colonies as ex-subjects of the empire. The legacy of the colonial experience raises questions on its relation with Welfare regimes in Europe, and their capacity to (re-)compose European societies.
Section 3: International Organizations
Finally, the liberal international and institutional setting after the two world wars and the integration of Western Europe added even more complexity to the picture, recognizing human rights and mobility as fundamental freedoms. International organizations such as the UN, the ILO or the OECD played an increasing role in shaping Welfare and migration policies. The contributors to the conference will discuss how the national Welfare state learnt to cope with these challenges, and what the dynamics and outcomes were in different Welfare regimes in Europe.
The contributions to the conference use historical and comparative approaches, in order to analyze the mechanisms and dynamics of specific patterns of human mobility and related Welfare policies. They discuss the different aspects of societal, political and institutional transformations and their connection to mobility in Europe.
