Globalization, Poverty and International Social Work

Established by the Board of Department 2010-06-01 with changes 2012-05-29, 2013-09-09, 2017-05-08, 2018-09-04, 2022-10-04, 2024-11-25 and 2025-10-14 starting from spring 2026.

*For all literature the most recent edition is used unless otherwise indicated (not articles).


Becevic, Zulmir & Herz, Marcus (2023) Towards an agonistic social work: a framwork for political action and radical practice. European Journal of Social Work, 26(6), 1164–1177. [13 p.]

Bell, Derek (2013). Climate change and human rights. WIREs Climate Change, 4, 159–170. [11 p.]

Björngren Cuadra, Carin (2011). Right of access to health care for undocumented migrants in EU: a comparative study of national policies. European Journal of Public Health, 22(2), 267–271. [4 p.]

Brysk, Alison (2005): Human Rights and Private Wrongs: Constructing Global Civil Society. New York: Routledge, chapters 1 & 6. [26 p.] 

Cosgrove, Serena & Curtis, Benjamin (2018). Understanding Global Poverty: Causes, Capabilities and Human Development. Routledge. (E-book) [283 p.]
And chapters from Ritzer (2016) 

D’Alessandro, Simone, Cieplinski, André, Distefano, Tiziano & Dittmer, Kristofer (2020). Feasible alternatives to green growth. Nature Sustainability, 3(April), 329–335. [6 p.]

De Haas, Hein, Castles, Stephen & Miller, Mark J. (2020). The Age of Migration. International Population Movements in the Modern World. 6th Edition. Bloomsbury. [167 p.]

Dominelli, Lena (2023). Social work practice during times of disaster: a transformative green social work model for theory, education and practice in disaster interventions. Routledge. (E-book: Introduction & chapter 4.) [48 p.]

Forsythe, David P. (2021). Advanced Introduction to: The Politics of International Human Rights. Edward Elgar Publishing, chapter 3 & 7. [34 p.]

Graham, Pamela L., McInnes, Alison & Mugyisha, Alex (2026). Food Insecurity and Alleviating Hunger. In Pentaris, Panagiotis & Walker, Janet, The Routledge International Handbook of Glocal Social Work. Routledge, 84–95. [11 p.] 

Healy, Lynn M. (2024). Sustainable development Goal 10: The challenge of reducing inequality. In Androff, David & Damanik, Janianton, The Routledge International Handbook of Social Development, Social Work, and the Sustainable Development Goals. New York: Routledge, 138–152. [15 p.]

Healy, L. M. & Thomas, R. L. (2021). International Social Work: Professional Action in an Interdependent World. Oxford University Press. (E-book, chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 9 & 13.) [146 p.]

Hugman, Richard (2023). Decolonising International Social Work. In The Routledge Handbook of International Critical Social Work. Routledge, 449–461. [12 p.] 

Ife, Jim (2016): “Human Rights and Social Work: Beyond Conservative Law” in Journal of Human Rights and Social Work 1 (1). pp. 3-8. 5 p.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41134-016-0001-4

Larrosa, German M. & Walker, Janet (2026). Global Social Work for the Promotion of Sustainable Urban Housing. In Pentaris, Panagiotis & Walker, Janet, The Routledge International Handbook of Glocal Social Work. Routledge, 96–111. [15 p.] 

Makili-Aliyev, Kamal (2025) Revisiting Sweden's Approach to Human Rights in Foreign Policy. Studies in European Affairs, forthcoming. [ca 8 p.]

Pritzker, Suzanne & Lane, Shannon R. (2021). Political Social Work. In Encyclopedia of Social Work. [19 p.] 

Ritzer, George & Dean, Paul (2022). Globalization: A Basic Text. Third Edition. Wiley Blackwell. (Chapters: 5, 7–9, 13–15.) [271 p.] 

Roby, Jini L. (2005). Women and children in the global sex trade: Toward more effective policy. International Social Work, 48(2), 136–147. [11 p.]

Scholte, J.A. (2012) ‘Poor People in Rich Countries: The Roles of Global Governance’, Global Social Policy, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 3-23. (20 p.)

Sing, Gurnam (2023). Decolonisation, Whiteness and Anti-Racist Social Work. In Singh, Gurnam & Webb, Stephen A. (2023). In The Routledge Handbook of International Critical Social Work. Routledge, 343–357. [14 p.] 

Smet, Andries De; Dirix, Jo; Diependaele, Lisa & Sterckx, Sigrid (2015) *”Globalization *and Responsibility for Human Rights”, Journal of Human Rights, 14:3, 419-438. (19p.)

Spolander, Gary, Teixeira Garcia, Maria Lúcia (2026). Social Work – The Importance of Social, Economic and Political Analysis to Develop Frameworks for Intervention. In Pentaris, Panagiotis & Walker, Janet, The Routledge International Handbook of Glocal Social Work. Routledge, 27–39. [12 p.]

Steger, Manfred B. (2025). Introducing Globalization Theories: A Concise Overview for Students. University of California Press. [209 p.]

Teye, Abraham T. (2026). Street Children’s Well-Being and Rights: The Role of Social Work Organisations in Accra, Ghana. In Pentaris, Panagiotis & Walker, Janet, The Routledge International Handbook of Glocal Social Work. Routledge, 136–148. [12 p.]

Walker, Janet & Pentaris, Panagiotis (2026). Human Rights, Social Justice and Transformation Practice. In Pentaris, Panagiotis & Walker, Janet, The Routledge International Handbook of Glocal Social Work. Routledge, 13–26 [13 p.] 

World Health Organization (2022) World report on health of refugees and migrants [selection of 60 pages, freely available online]