Dr Francisco Simoes, ISCTE, Lisbon
Francisco Simoes is a PhD in Psychology at the University of Coimbra. He is an assistant researcher and a full member of the Center for Social Research and Intervention at the University Institute of Lisbon. He is also the Chair of the COST Action Rural NEET Youth Network funded by the European Commission and a member of the Coordination Group of the EU Rural Pact. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator of the project Track-In funded by the EEA & Norway Grants. His research focuses on psychosocial aspects of adolescents’ social development and well-being, social support, youth mentoring, youth mobilities, or rural NEETs profile. He has authored and co-authored more than 60 international peer-reviewed papers and reports on these research topics.
Social Inclusion in the Countryside: The Case of Rural Young People not in Employment, nor in Education or Training
Young people Not in Employment, nor in Education or Training (NEET) is a controversial social category and has been widely criticized for being mostly a statistical tool combining young people with very different educational, social, or economic backgrounds under the same label. However, for the past 15 years, NEETs shares have been disproportionately higher in rural parts of the European country, compared to (sub)urban areas, particularly in Southern and Eastern countries. This trend is relevant as it adds to several structural inequalities that are widening the gap between more affluent, urban areas and less affluent, mostly rural territories of the European continent. Recent research efforts driven by initiatives such as the Rural NEET Youth Network have finally started to profile rural NEETs in the context of the school-to-work transition. My presentation details the main individual features of rural NEETs. Following that, I will discuss the current challenges and opportunities shaping rural labour markets which can ultimately shape rural younger generations pathways to the labour force, with many of them stemming from the twin transition. I will conclude by listing a series of research initiatives and policy recommendations that can contribute to strengthening the social inclusion of rural young people in general, including rural NEETs.
Prof Dr Stein Kuhnle, Bergen University
Stein Kuhnle is Professor Emeritus at the University of Bergen, Norway, where he was Professor of Comparative Politics (1982-2017). He is also Professor Emeritus at the Hertie School in Berlin, where he was Professor of comparative social policy (2006-2013). He is an Honorary Professor at Fudan University, Nanjing University, Sun Yat-sen University in China and the University of Southern Denmark. He has published extensively on comparative welfare state development. Most recent books are Challenges to the Welfare State: Family and Pension Policies in the Baltic and Nordic Countries (2021, co-edited with J. Aidukaite and S. E. O. Hort); Globalizing Welfare: An Evolving Asia-European Dialogue (2019, co-edited with P. Selle and S. E. O. Hort); Ageing Welfare and Social Policy: China and the Nordic Countries in Comparative Perspective (2019, 2022 (Chinese edition), co-edited with Jing, T-, Pan, Y., and Chen, S.). Selected previous publications: Normative Foundations of the Welfare State: The Nordic Experience (2005, co-edited with N. Kildal); Survival of the European Welfare State (2000, ed.). He has given lectures in 35 countries and has been a Visiting Professor/Scholar at universities in China, Japan, Australia, the UK, Germany, Italy, and the USA.
The Welfare State: The Challenges of Sustainability
It is nothing new that ‘the welfare state’ faces serious challenges. Ever since the 1970s, Western welfare states have by many researchers been regarded as being in crisis, but despite many policy adjustments and important variations among Western welfare states, the overall scope of the welfare state, as measured by social expenditure per capita, has by and large increased. At the same time, we can observe a globalisation of social policy and the emergence of a more active social role of the state in many parts of the world during recent decades.
But new challenges due to a variety of new security issues and new dimensions of uncertainty have appeared, not least following the unanticipated Russian large-scale invasion of and war on Ukraine and concomitant international political developments. Political unease about the future of the welfare state and scope of social policies in different parts of the world has escalated. Welfare political priorities must compete with increased priorities for defence, cyber security, and issues related to energy, climate, food, and the environment.
Motivations for state responsibility for citizen welfare and well-being – as well as for the type and scope of responsibility - vary. The fate of the welfare state and social policies is clearly a question of political and normative commitment to what kind of socially active state is desired. What are the economic, political, and moral dimensions of welfare state sustainability?