WELFAREPRIORITIES is a project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) running from September 2017 to February 2023. The goal of the project is to rethink social policy conflict. In times of austerity, welfare politics is multi-dimensional, meaning that it is not about more vs. less welfare state but about what the welfare state should do. In other words: where should scare resources be allocated and whose needs should be prioritized?
We study welfare state priorities of citizens, political elites, and economic elites in eight European countries. Further, WELFAREPRIORITIES is interested in why welfare states look differently across countries and how we can explain welfare state reform in different contexts. The insights of this project contribute to the question of how the welfare state can uphold social solidarity in times of declining resources, rising inequality, and structural change.