Gardin, Matias
PhD European Studies
Email: matias.gardin@kcl.ac.uk
Thesis title: Evolution of Welfare State in Finland and West Germany 1960-1970: Birth of Education Society
First supervisor: Dr Alex Clarkson
Second supervisor: Dr Daniela Tepe
Matias is supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation (2010) and Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz (2012).
Biography
BA University of Manchester (Universität Innsbruck)
MA University of Manchester
Research
Matias's current research examines the impact of political ideologies and state structures on the welfare-state developments of the Republic of Finland and the Federal Republic of Germany from 1960 to 1970, a period of dramatic social expenditure expansion and extraordinary economic growth. In particular, it explores the issue by asking whether different political ideologies of ruling parties and country-specific institutional frameworks mattered in these developments or were there other factors, such as the level of industrialisation or economic strength, which are more influential in explaining cross-national welfare variations during this timeframe. Whereas mainstream analysts of comparative social policy since the early 1990s have taken for granted that politics mattered in the immediate post-war era reflecting the more pronounced Left-Right, Catholic-Protestant and other historical cleavages, this research moves beyond the somewhat oversimplified traditional welfare regime typologies and instead considers the issue of how welfare systems became intertwined with other more control-focused aspects of state development: in effect, whether and how they become instruments of discipline. Drawing on Foucault’s power of normalisation - and using educational expansion of the 1960s as a case study - it is suggested that there are aspects of the development of Finnish and West German policing which had a direct bearing on the emergence of the welfare state.
Teaching
2011-2012: 4SSPP103 Comparing Political Systems (Department of Political Economy)
2012-2013: 6AAYEU22 European Political Economy (Department of European and International Studies), 4SSPP103 Comparing Political Systems (Department of Political Economy), 4AAH1006 Europe from 1793 to 1991 (Department of History), 5AAYEU07 Germany since 1945: Politics, Society, Economics (Department of German)
Publications
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‘Reconsidering the early 1960s: welfare as nationalistic strategy in Pekka Kuusi’s 60-luvun Sosiaalipolitiikka and Ludwig Erhard’s Wohlstand für alle’ Tirant lo Blanch editors (Spain) with Polibienestar-University of Valencia (Spain).
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Upcoming book chapter (2013): ‘Equity boys and Gucci parents: critical reflections on the relationship between education and social class in Finland and West Germany 1960-1970’, from 13th UACES Forum Conference 2012 (Kent Brussels School of International Studies and Institute for European Studies at Vrije Universiteit Brussel) by Cambridge Scholars Publishing (UK).
Conferences
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‘London Conference in Critical Thought’ Birkbeck University of London (2012)
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‘Crisis or Renewal in Europe(an studies)' Vrije Universiteit Brussels (2012)
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‘Exploring Disciplines’ King’s College London (2011)
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‘Sustainability and Transformation of European Social Policy’ University of Valencia (2011)
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‘Undertaking Inclusive Research in Education and Social Work’ University of Sussex (2010)
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'British-German Connectivity Conference’ Humboldt University Berlin (2010)
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Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence series