Louvain-Kobe Project: Security and social inclusion in the age of globalization (SIAG)

This project aims at deepening the collaboration between researchers from Kobe and Louvain on issues belonging mainly to the realm of political science, political theory, economics and law. Both Japan and Belgium are currently facing huge challenges in terms of security and social inclusion. The project focuses on some specific aspects of these challenges. First, it tackles the issue of decreasing “material” security, through the comparative study of social policy reform in both countries. In particular, we explore the fields of minimum income protection, unemployment insurance, pensions, and health care. Second, it addresses what could be labelled “non-material” security, here understood as “cultural” security, relating to multiculturalism and its negative side, racism. In Japan and Europe alike, replacement migration is sometimes seen as part of the answer to the challenge of an ageing population. But it raises new issues in terms of social inclusion of newcomers, for instance regarding key moral values of the host society (e.g. gender equality or secularism). These two aspects of the project are dealt with through: (1) stays of PhD students, (2) stays of senior researchers, (3) organization of workshops, (4) exploration of possible joint PhDs. The project builds up on previous collaborations between UCL and Kobe University, as well as on the exchanges held at the occasion of the October 2016 Royal mission to Japan.