The third phase of the CRC sets the keystone in our 12-year research agenda. Phase I mapped and explained the global introduction of social protection programs, which critically involved creating the new Global Welfare State Information System (WeSIS). Phase II mapped and explained variance in the inclusiveness and scope of benefits of social policies across countries and over time. Launched for early access in February 2025, WeSIS constitutes a groundbreaking database for global welfare state research. Phase III will utilize this database to examine the socioeconomic effectiveness of social policy and its impact on political integration.

The key findings of the first two phases were the globality and variety of welfare policies. Despite variation in design, inclusiveness, and scope of benefits, today, virtually all states worldwide have social policy programs. Their introduction and expansion were closely linked to the promise to mitigate socioeconomic conflicts and to tie individuals and groups to the political system. The puzzle of the third phase is: Why has the global diffusion and expansion of social policy resulted in greater socioeconomic effectiveness in some regions at some times and not in other cases, and why has it enhanced political integration in certain parts of the world but not in others? More specifically, we ask: When has the welfare state kept the promise of mitigating socioeconomic conflicts, and when have its social policies proved ineffective? When has the welfare state managed to tie individuals and groups to the political system, and when did it fail at political integration?

To address this puzzle, the dependent variable in the third phase is located on two dimensions: socioeconomic and political outcomes. The socioeconomic outcome dimension reflects material effects such as the allocation of resources, distributive outcomes, and individual responses to these outcomes, such as fertility, employment, or life satisfaction. The political outcome dimension reflects the effects of social policies on citizens’ support for and demands toward the political system and power relations within it, including social movements, political protest, and political attitudes and behaviors in transregional and international contexts.

The CRC is organized into two project areas. Area A’s six projects will primarily focus on the socioeconomic and political impacts of social policy globally from a macro-comparative perspective. Area B’s six projects will primarily examine social policy’s political and socioeconomic consequences in selected countries or world regions, often by combining macro- and micro-perspectives. The Information Management Project (INF) will continue providing a common data and methods platform for both project areas while further developing sustainable research data management and computational social science methods for welfare state research.