Studying sustainability transitions in welfare states. A research agenda for Japan and the Netherlands

While traditional welfare states ‘retreat’, raising fundamental questions about social equity and actors’ responsibilities, pressing sustainability problems remain unaddressed. In the course of a joint seminar, some 20 scholars from the Netherlands and Japan exchanged experiences and insights on studying welfare states from a transitions perspective. This resulted in a joint research agenda that introduces three entry points for researching sustainability transitions in/of welfare states: demystifying ‘context’, the role(s) of agency, and dynamics of and in welfare states.