The Center for Comparative Welfare Studies (CCWS) was established in 1995 as a multidisciplinary centre for comparative welfare research at the Department of Political Science, Aalborg University.

The CCWS provides knowledge about the interplay between welfare systems (market, state, family and civil society) and their surroundings; the idea-base, administrative structure and design of the welfare state; its output (policies) and effects (outcomes); and its developmental dynamics, including economic and social challenges, and its self-preservation mechanisms.

Addressing these issues, the CCWS is working to attain and maintain the position as a leading centre of knowledge nationally and internationally. For this purpose, the CCWS has chosen to prioritize research activities addressing the following seven areas:

* The impact of welfare systems on opinion formation, levels of trust and happiness

* Welfare systems and senior citizens

* New welfare mix, including privatization of welfare measures

* Equality/inequality and the course of life

* The welfare state and diversity, including ethnic diversity, handicapped etc.

* Gender and citizenship

* Globalization and the welfare state, the welfare state in Denmark and China

 

For a full description of the priority areas, click here.