Intended learning outcomes (knowledge, skills and competences to be developed by the students) :

• To understand the historical origins of the welfare state
   
• To develop a comprehensive and critical view of the state of the art in the field of comparative analysis of social policies
   
• To realise the existence of different conceptions of citizenship and understand their implications for social policies
   
• To develop analytical skills in the context of recent trends in the evolution of health public policies

Syllabus

• Origins and historical contextualisation of the Welfare State: The importance of historical contextualisation of the Welfare State; Before the Welfare State; Origins of the Welfare State; Expansion of the Welfare State after 1945; Reconsideration of the Welfare State from the 1970s onwards; Contemporary problems and challenges.
   
• Comparative analysis of social policies and welfare state models: Esping-Andersen's three worlds; Comparative analysis in territorial and cultural terms; Other dimensions of comparative analysis of social policies.
   
• Public health policies: Efficiency objectives and equity objectives; The health care market; Market failures and models of state intervention in the health sector.
   
• Portugal in the context of the OECD: Empirical data; Recent developments and trends.