Carina Schmitt’s book "From Colonialism to International Aid - External Actors and Social Protection in the Global South" his published open access. "We have been aware for a long time, that external actors have been important for social protection in these countries from the very beginning," Carina Schmitt explains. "However, we didn’t fully understand how this influence exactly looks like. The book exactly addresses this question."

The book comprises of 14 chapters and takes a deeper look at the influence of colonialism, the Cold War, and internationals donors on the development of social protection in the past and present. It is based on the symposium "Building Social Protection Systems in the Global South. Different Trajectories and the Influence of External Factors" held at the University of Bremen in June 2018. It brought together experts in social policy in developing countries. "We tried to combine different research perspectives and traditions and also scholars from different regions of the world," says Carina Schmitt.

The CRC 1342 and Palgrave Mcmillan launched the book series "Global Dynamics of Social Policy" in order to publish research findings produced within CRC 1342, as well as from external colleagues. The series features studies on the waves, ruptures and transformative periods of welfare state expansion and retrenchment globally. It takes a comprehensive and globalized perspective on social policy, and the approach will help to locate and explain episodes of retrenchment, austerity, and tendencies toward de-welfarization in particular countries, policy areas and/or social risk-groups by reference to prior, simultaneous or anticipated episodes of expansion or contraction in other countries, areas, and risks.

One of the aims of this series is to address the different constellations that emerge between political and economic actors including international and intergovernmental organizations, political actors and bodies, and business enterprises. A better understanding of these dynamics improves the reader’s grasp of social policy making, social policy outputs, and ultimately the outcomes of social policy.

The editors of the series are the CRC 1342 members Lorraine Frisina Doetter, Delia González de Reufels and Kerstin Martens, as well as Marianne S. Ulriksen (University of Southern Denmark).