School of Social and Political Science

Background

I am a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh . Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Konstanz. I hold a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute (EUI) and held visiting positions at Harvard University, Lund University, the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Central European University (CEU), and the EUI. 

My research interests are in the areas of comparative political economy and comparative politics, with a particular focus on welfare states, industrial relations, eco-social policies, and party politics. More generally, my work seeks to understand the relationship between capitalism and democracy over time and across space.

My research has received the Richard Titmuss Book Award by the Social Policy Association (SPA), the Kurt W. Rothschild Award for economic journalism and research (co-recipient with Arianna Tassinari), the Theodor Körner Prize for outstanding early career researchers, the Science Award and the Innovation Award by the Austrian Chamber of Labour. ​

For more information on my research and teaching, see my personal website: www.philiprathgeb.com

 © Picture courtesy of Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University.

Qualifications

• PhD in Political and Social Sciences (European University Institute)
• Master of Research (European University Institute)
• Mag. phil. in Political Science (Austrian equivalent of MA, University of Vienna)

Peer-reviewed publications

Monographs

• Rathgeb, Philip (2024) How the Radical Right Has Changed Capitalism and Welfare in Europe and the USA. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
• Rathgeb, Philip (2018) Strong Governments, Precarious Workers: Labor Market Policy in the Era of Liberalization. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Edited special issue

• Rathgeb, Philip/Busemeyer, Marius (eds.) (2022) The Radical Right and Welfare Politics: Causes and Consequences. Edited Special Issue. West European Politics 45 (1).

Journal Articles

• Lehner, Lukas/Rathgeb, Philip (forthcoming) Resilience of solidarity: Austria’s social insurance model from a comparative perspective. Journal of European Social Policy.
• Rathgeb, Philip/Hopkin, Jonathan (2025) How the Eurozone shapes populism: A comparative political economy approach. Journal of European Public Policy, 32(5): 1173-1196.
• ​Cigna, Luca/Hasanagic, Emina/Heins, Elke/Fischer, Torben (2023) Varieties of Just Transition? Eco-Social Policy Approaches at the International Level. Social Policy and Society, 22(4): 730-746
• Clegg, Daniel/Heins, Elke/Rathgeb, Philip (2022) Unemployment benefit governance, trade unions and outsider protection in Conservative welfare states. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 28(2): 195-210. 
• Rathgeb, Philip/Tassinari, Arianna (2022) How the Eurozone disempowers trade unions: the political economy of competitive internal devaluation. Socio-Economic Review, 20 (1): 323-350. 
• Rathgeb, Philip/Wolkenstein, Fabio (2022) When do social democratic parties unite over tough immigration policy? West European Politics, 45 (5): 979-1002.
• Rathgeb, Philip/Klitgaard, Michael Baggesen (2022) Protagonists or consenters: radical right parties and attacks on trade unions. Journal of European Public Policy, 29 (7): 1049-1071.
• Rathgeb, Philip/Busemeyer, Marius (2022) How to study the populist radical right and the welfare state? West European Politics 45 (1): 1-23.
• Busemeyer, Marius/Rathgeb, Philip/Sahm, Alexander (2022) Authoritarian values and the welfare state: the social policy preferences of radical right voters. West European Politics 45 (1): 77-101.
• Rathgeb, Philip/Gruber-Risak, Martin (2021) Deserving Natives First: The Impact of the Radical Right on the Austrian Welfare State, Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal 42 (1): 43-60. 
• Rathgeb, Philip (2021) Makers against takers: the socio-economic ideology and policy of the Austrian Freedom Party. West European Politics 44 (3): 635-660.
• Rathgeb, Philip (2019) No Flexicurity without trade unions: The Danish experience. Comparative European Politics 17 (1): 1-21.
• Rathgeb, Philip (2018) When weak governments confront inclusive trade unions: The politics of protecting labour market outsiders in the age of dualization. European Journal of Industrial Relations 24 (1): 5-22.
• Rathgeb, Philip (2017) Relying on weak governments: Austrian trade unions and the politics of smoothed dualisation. Austrian Journal of Political Science 45 (3): 45-55.