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GRADUATION INTERVIEW ▼

The Impacts of Intrastate Warfare on Public Social Policy

AN INTERVIEW WITH JOSEFINE DEHN

Oliver Beirow

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SHORT PROFILE

Name: Josefine Dehn
Field: Political Sciece
Dissertation: The Impacts of Intrastate Warfare on Public Social Policy – A Case-based Study of Peru, 1980 – 2000

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Our doctoral member Josefine Dehn has successfully completed her dissertation. In her Graduation Interview, she gives insights into the topic and findings of her dissertation, talks about her time at the BAGSS, and shares the next step in her career.

// What drew you to your dissertation topic and what interests you most about it?

J. D.: My starting point stems from the counterintuitive finding of earlier research that something as terrible as warfare interstate wars, e.g. both World Wars, have helped drive the long-term expansion of the welfare state in Western countries. I was interested in whether this also applies to other types of war. As part of a large collective research center, I was able to explore this question with a focus on civil wars, which are one of the most common types today, and on the case of Peru, a comparatively understudied Latin American country in previous research on social policy. 


// Can you give us a small sneak peek about the findings of your thesis?

J.D.: My findings show that intrastate warfare affected public social policy in the case under investigation  - Peru - in various ways. Generally, a few war-relevant societal groups were prioritised, including the police and military, civil servants, and state-recognised peasant self-defence groups. These groups benefited from an expansion of social protection during the war, more generous and exclusive benefits, and, in some cases, from an earlier policy adoption. By contrast, social policy changes for the majority of the civilian population were later, remained insufficient compared to war-caused suffering, and, in some cases, led to retrenchment. While the war acted as a direct stimulus for policy change by creating social needs that would not otherwise have emerged, most of the war’s impacts on social policy, however, were indirect, stemming from its influence on various explanatory factors commonly studied in comparative welfare research. I found evidence of these influences with regard to institutions, political parties, power resources, political behaviour and attitudes, and external factors. Overall, my research demonstrates that intrastate warfare is another theoretical driver, particularly in non-Western contexts, that links both directly and indirectly to public social policy. My dissertation offers the first attempt to map these influences, their complex, non-linear interactions, and the resulting social policy outcomes.

// If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice at the start of your PhD, what would it be?

J.D.:  Try not to be too perfectionist and do not worry as much. It will all work out somehow! And at some point: just submit it :)

// What is the next step in your career?

J.D.:  I currently work as a specialist for a German public health insurance company. Broadly speaking, my work involves providing expertise and supervising the implementation of the legal rules governing the calculation of contributions. It is something quite different from my previous work in academia, but I'm still learning a lot of new things every day!