Utrecht University Lecture Brussels: The welfare state as an institution 

Utrecht University is pleased to invite you to attend the fourth Utrecht University Lecture in the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels on Thursday October 17, 2013 by Paul Schnabel, distinguished Professor of Utrecht University and General Director of The Netherlands Institure for Social Research.
The lecture is hosted by Mr Thijs Berman, Dutch member of the European Parliament on behalf of the Labour Party and Utrecht University alumnus.



The institutions of the Dutch welfare state can be divided in three groups:
* Social security – the financial support schemes for the unemployed, the disabled, the poor and the pensioners. Each scheme has its own rules of entitlement, f.i. age, years of residence in the Netherlands. The social security system was gradually developed between 1948 en 1968. Since then, restrictions of the originally very generous allowances have become prominent.
* Social services – health care, education, welfare, media, leisure time facilities (arts, sports, recreation). In the Netherlands the provision of the services is privately organised by mainly – not for profit organizations, subsidized by the state. In the last decade the use of these services is become more and more dependent on out of pocket contributions of the consumers of these services.
* Social morality – emancipation policies to ascertain equal rights for women, ethnic minorities, homosexuals and transgenders. The institutionalization of abortion, euthanasia, gay rights (same sex marriages, adoption procedures), patient rights is still going on.
The lecture will offer an assessment of the hybridical nature of the Dutch welfare state and the gradual changes in the attitudes towards the role of the state and the individual citizen respectively. At the start there was no clear picture of an institution ‘welfare state’, but especially in the sixties and early seventies the welfare state got identified as a goal in itself. At present the general feeling is that the ‘big’ welfare state is not sustainable and the focus should be on paving the way for the ‘big society’ with a stronger commitment of citizens.

Date
Thursday 17 October, 2013.
from 6.00 pm (start lecture: 6.30 pm).

Location
European Parliament (Brussels).

Sign up
Admission to the lecture and drinks reception are kindly offered to you by Mr Thijs Berman and Utrecht University.


 
Access to the European Parliament buildings requires formal identification. In order to deal with the formalities, please register as soon as possible.

Dinner
Attendees are cordially invited to join the guest speaker and the hosts for an optional 3-course dinner in a restaurant at walking distance of the European Parliament.
For the dinner (€ 35,- including drinks) reservation is required.

Questions?
Please contact Harold Kerkhof at Utrecht University Fund (h.kerkhof@uu.nl)

Utrecht University Lectures Brussels 2012 – 2013
To contribute to the discussion of issues for EU policy and research, Utrecht University organizes a series of four lectures at the EP in Brussels in 2012-2013, corresponding with the four strategic themes of the university: Sustainability, Life Sciences, Youth & Identies and Institutions. Alumni, friends all those who are interested are most welcome to attend the Utrecht University Lectures.