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Welfare States (welfare + states)
Selected AbstractsPIOUS LIES: THE JUSTIFICATION OF STATES AND WELFARE STATESECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 2 2004Anthony de Jasay Institutions, customs, laws are often, and sometimes implausibly, credited with efficiency. They serve a good purpose and if they had not arisen, we would have invented them. The claim is reassuring, though it may be no more than a pious lie. The creation of the state by social contract, and the adoption of supposedly rational customs by primitive peoples, serve as examples. Interpreting the welfare state as a mutual insurance scheme from which all can expect to profit is a classic of the kind. [source] Development, Democracy and Welfare States: Latin America, East Asia and Eastern Europe , By Stephan Haggard and Robert R. KaufmanGOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2010MICHELLE L. DION No abstract is available for this article. [source] Transforming the Developmental Welfare State in East AsiaDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2005Huck-ju Kwon This article attempts to explain changes and continuity in the developmental welfare states in Korea and Taiwan within the East Asian context. It first elaborates two strands of welfare developmentalism (selective vs. inclusive), and establishes that the welfare state in both countries fell into the selective category of developmental welfare states before the Asian economic crisis of 1997. The key principles of the selective strand of welfare developmentalism are productivism, selective social investment and authoritarianism; inclusive welfare development is based on productivism, universal social investment and democratic governance. The article then argues that the policy reform toward an inclusive welfare state in Korea and Taiwan was triggered by the need for structural reform in the economy. The need for economic reform, together with democratization, created institutional space in policy-making for advocacy coalitions, which made successful advances towards greater social rights. Finally, the article argues that the experiences of Korea and Taiwan counter the neo-liberal assertion that the role of social policy in economic development is minor, and emphasizes that the idea of an inclusive developmental welfare state should be explored in the wider context of economic and social development. [source] Would you like to shrink the welfare state?ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 32 2001A survey of European citizens The fundamental problems facing European welfare states , high unemployment and unsustainable public pensions plans in particular , have been in the political debate for years, so why have we seen so little reform? To find out, we surveyed the opinions of citizens in France, Germany, Italy and Spain on their welfare states and on various reform options. This is what we found. First, most workers underestimate the costs of public pensions, though they are aware of their unsustainability. Second, the status quo is a majoritarian outcome: a majority of citizens opposes cuts to social security and welfare spending, but also opposes further increases. Since population ageing without reform implies an automatic expansion, our results suggest that most citizens would favour reforms that stabilize but do not shrink the current welfare states. Third, many would welcome changes in the allocation of benefits. A large number of workers in Italy and Germany would be willing to opt out of public pensions and replace them with private pensions, though the details of how this scheme is formulated matter for its popularity. And many Italians and Spaniards would welcome an extension of the coverage of unemployment insurance. Fourth, conflicts over the welfare state are mainly shaped by the economic situation of the respondent, while political ideology plays a limited role. Disagreements are found along three dimensions: young versus old, rich versus poor, and ,outsider' versus ,insider' in terms of labour market status. From a practical point of view, this suggests that there is scope to bundle reforms strategically in order to build a large and mixed coalition of supporters. , Tito Boeri, Axel Börsch-Supan and Guido Tabellini [source] Factor mobility and fiscal policy in the EU: policy issues and analytical approachesECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 31 2000David E. Wildasin Increased integration of labour and capital markets creates significant challenges for the welfare states of modern Europe. Taxation of capital and labour that finances extensive programmes of cash and in-kind redistribution creates incentives for capital owners and workers to locate in regions where they obtain favourable fiscal treatment. Competition among countries for mobile resources constrains their ability to alter the distribution of income and may lead to reductions in the size and scope of redistributive policies. Mobility of labour and capital is imperfect, however. Recent trends indicate that labour and capital are neither perfectly mobile nor perfectly immobile, but rather adjust gradually to market conditions and economic policies. This paper presents an explicitly dynamic analysis showing that governments can achieve some redistribution when it is costly for factors of production to relocate. As the costs of factor mobility fall, however, the effectiveness of redistributive policies is more limited, and governments have weaker incentives to pursue them. Liberalized immigration policies, EU enlargement, and other steps that promote integration of the factors markets of Western Europe with those of surrounding regions thus present a challenge to policy-makers if they also wish to maintain fiscal systems with extensive redistribution. [source] Immigration to the Land of RedistributionECONOMICA, Issue 308 2010TITO BOERI Negative perceptions about migrants in Europe are driven by concerns that foreigners abuse welfare. Paradoxically, instruments of social inclusion are becoming weapons of mass exclusion. We compare evidence on welfare access and the net fiscal position of migrants with perceptions based on a largely unexploited database (EU-SILC). We find no evidence that legal migrants, notably skilled migrants, are net recipients of transfers from the state. However, there is evidence of ,residual dependency' on non-contributory transfers and self-selection of unskilled migrants in the countries with the most generous welfare states. Alternative strategies to unbundle migration from welfare access are discussed. [source] Emotional Bureaucracies: Emotions Civil Servants, and Immigrants in the Swedish Welfare StateETHOS, Issue 3 2002Mark Graham This article examines how Swedish emotional expression is both reflected in and helps to reproduce the ideology of the welfare state. A Swedish ideal of emotional compatibility and continuity between welfare bureaucracies and their clients has been challenged in the wake of refugee immigration. The resulting multicultural society is understood by civil servants to translate into an emotional complexity that has consequences for the levels of emotion in meetings with refugee clients, emotional barriers between staff and clients, emotional reciprocity, and the gendering and mobilization of emotion in bureaucratic encounters. The presence of refugee immigrants is shown to have consequences for the welfare state's ability to ensure emotional reproduction in society. How Swedish civil servants respond to refugee clients provides insights into the emotional dimension of bureaucracies in multicultural welfare states and bureaucratic work more generally. [source] Workers, worries and welfare states: Social protection and job insecurity in 15 OECD countriesEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2007CHRISTOPHER J. ANDERSON Based on data on people's attitudes toward their job as well as levels of and kinds of social protection collected in 15 OECD countries, it shows that there are distinct manifestations of job insecurity that are affected differently by distinct aspects of social protection programs. While the analysis shows that social protection measures reduce employment insecurity, it also reveals that overall levels welfare state generosity do not have any systematic effect on whether workers feel secure. The article's findings suggest the need to decompose the different components of employment insecurity as well as disaggregate national systems of social protection when examining the impact of welfare states on job insecurity. [source] Managing Diversity? ,Community Cohesion' and Its Limits in Neoliberal Urban PolicyGEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2008Julie MacLeavy The concept of ,community cohesion' has played a defining role in the institution of a new policy agenda for regenerating urban areas in many liberal welfare states. Its particular interpretation supports the installation of urban programmes that are based not on the improvement of the built environment, but rather investment in the social and cultural composition of cities. In particular, the economic and civic participation of individuals living within deprived urban areas is positioned as a key means of redressing situations of inequality and disadvantage. This article reviews the concept of ,community cohesion', its use in urban policy in the UK, and the recent literature on this subject. Through an indicative discussion of the New Deal for Communities programme, it explores the potential implications of ,community cohesion' for disadvantaged policy subjects and considers especially its provisions for ethnic minority groups: a constellation of community in which individuals are understood to experience a ,double disadvantage' as a result of their disproportionate concentration in deprived urban areas, and their subjection to the consequences of racial discrimination (as well as language and cultural barriers). [source] EU Enlargement, Migration, and Lessons from German UnificationGERMAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 3 2000Hans-Werner Sinn The paper studies the role of international implications after EU enlargement. Based on a formal model with migration costs for both capital and labor, it predicts a two-sided migration from the new to the old EU countries which is later reversed. As the migration pattern chosen by market forces turns out to be efficient, migration should not be artificially reduced by means of legal constraints or subsidies to the new member countries. The paper draws the parallel with German unification and points out the lessons to be learned by Europe. The analysis concludes with a brief discussion of the second-best problem posed by the existence of welfare states in the old member countries. [source] Decentralization, Local Government, and the Welfare StateGOVERNANCE, Issue 4 2007JEFFEREY M. SELLERS Despite growing interest in decentralized governance, the local government systems that comprise the most common element of decentralization around the world have received little systematic attention. This article, drawing on the first systematic index of decentralization to local government in 21 countries, demonstrates a close relation between Social Democratic welfare states and an intergovernmental infrastructure that in important respects ranks as the most decentralized among advanced industrial countries. This empowerment of local government in these countries was less an outgrowth of Social Democratic welfare state development than a preexisting condition that helped make this type of welfare state possible. [source] Class and gender inequalities in different types of welfare states: the Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP)INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 2010Walter KorpiArticle first published online: 8 APR 2010 Korpi W. Class and gender inequalities in different types of welfare states: the Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP) Int J Soc Welfare 2010: ,,: ,,,,,© 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. This article considers the role of legislated welfare state institutions as mediators of effects of political and structural forces on citizens' levels of living of relevance to inequalities in health and mortality. The focus is on institutional structures of welfare state programmes relevant to class inequality, as indicated by income inequalities, and to gender inequality, conceived of as differences in agency. I introduce the Social Citizenship Indicator Program, a database providing quantitative and qualitative information on structures of main social insurance programmes in 18 countries from 1930 to 2000, on about 300,000 data points. It is used to delineate types of distributive institutions of relevance for income inequality. Institutions relevant for gendered agency inequality affect choices by women, especially mothers, between unpaid and paid work. Driving forces behind the emergence of differences in distributive institutions are discussed, and patterns of class and gender inequalities are outlined. [source] How does economic globalisation affect the welfare state?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 2 2009Focusing on the mediating effect of welfare regimes In recent years the impact of globalisation on the welfare state has become a major issue in comparative policy studies. Some empirical studies demonstrate a negative relationship between globalisation and the welfare state, while others show adverse findings or a non-significant relationship. The impact of globalisation, however, can be neither uniform nor unidirectional because of the differences in the political economies of individual welfare states. Welfare regimes reflect qualitative differences in arrangements of welfare institutions and the associated enduring configuration of the welfare nexus, suggesting that welfare regimes may influence the impact of globalisation on the welfare state. We scrutinise the relationship between globalisation and the welfare state by sampling 18 affluent countries from 1980 to 2001 and concentrating on the mediating effect of three welfare regime types. Our study provides a comprehensive examination of the relationship between globalisation and the welfare state using a state-of-the-art analytical technique , the mixed-effect model. Findings suggest that welfare regimes respond differently to the impact of globalisation and therefore mediate the relationship between globalisation and the welfare state. Globalisation negatively affects the welfare state in a social democratic regime, while it marginally affects the welfare state in liberal and conservative regimes. [source] The reform of the developmental welfare state in East AsiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 2009Huck-ju Kwon This article examines social policy reforms in East Asia and whether the welfare states in the region became more inclusive in terms of social protection while maintaining their developmental credentials. It draws on findings from the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) project on social policy in East Asia, covering China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Japan, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan Province of China, and Thailand. It shows that East Asian economies responded differently to the crisis in terms of welfare reform. While Singapore and Hong Kong maintained the basic structure of the selective developmental welfare state, Korea, Taiwan, and, to a lesser extent, Thailand implemented social policy reforms toward a more inclusive one. Despite such different responses, policy changes are explained by the proposition of the developmental welfare state: the instrumentality of social policy for economic development and realization of policy changes through democratization (or the lack of it). [source] Solidarity towards immigrants in European welfare statesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 1 2008Wim Van Oorschot The concern that immigration could threaten the sustainability of the European Social Model is a reason to have a closer look at popular images of immigrants in the context of European welfare states. The focus is on Europeans' informal solidarity towards immigrants relative to other vulnerable groups in society. Using data from the European Values Survey 1999/2000 we find that in all European countries the public is least solidaristic towards migrants, in comparison with elderly people, sick and disabled people and unemployed people. Contrary to expectation, there is little relation between welfare state characteristics and people's solidarity, while the relative solidarity towards immigrants is higher in culturally more diverse countries. As expected, the relative solidarity towards immigrants is lower in countries with a more negative opinion climate towards immigrants and in poorer countries of Europe. [source] Western European welfare states in the 20th century: convergences and divergences in a long-run perspectiveINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 4 2003Bela Tomka The study investigates the welfare systems in Western Europe in the course of the so-called ,short 20th century' (1918,1990) from a long-term comparative perspective and focusing on the convergent versus divergent features of development. Various indicators examined show that in terms of relative level of welfare expenditures, features of welfare institutions and social rights, there were significant differences between Western European countries in the first half of the 20th century, but diversity significantly decreased by the 1950s, and the tendency of convergence continued steadily in the next two decades. Subsequently, changes in variation between countries from the 1970s onwards displayed a somewhat less clear-cut pattern, but in several areas the convergence continued. As a result, in 1990 the differences between the Western European countries can be regarded as less significant in that respect than in the middle and especially at the beginning of the 20th century. [source] Low Public Expenditures on Social Welfare: Do East Asian Countries have a Secret?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 1 2000David Jacobs This paper explores the sources of low public expenditures on social welfare in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Six factors are analysed based on aggregate data: the public/private mix of welfare programmes, the age structure, the maturity of old-age pension schemes, the population coverage of social security, the relative generosity of social security and the role of enterprises and families as alternative providers of welfare. The evidence allows putting some conventional statements about the virtues of East Asian welfare states into questions. Public expenditures on welfare are bound to rise a lot in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, while the level of protection in Hong Kong and Singapore is well below the standards of Western countries. [source] Economic Policy and Social Policy: Policy-linkages in an Era of GlobalisationINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 1 2000Dong-Myeon Shin This article argues that changes in the role of the state in economic affairs will affect the process of social policy. Growing economic integration caused by globalisation now places a greater constraint upon the discretion of the nation state, bringing about a transformation into a more competitive state. States are increasingly having to compete against each other in order to promote competitiveness and attract foreign direct investment (FDI) from international capital markets. This competition influences in turn the social policy formation requiring the redesigning of social policy. Thus, welfare states may need to reform their social policy towards a "business-friendly social policy". The analysis of social policy inputs and outputs presented here suggests that there are common trends in most welfare states towards: a market-conforming policy on business taxation, a reduction of the share of employer's contributions in social protection revenues, more limited income security programmes, an increased allocation of resources for active labour market programmes and less state intervention in the labour market. All these reforming trends in social policy can be understood as a response of welfare states to the evolving needs of business caused by structural change, notably globalisation. [source] Social Policy in Harsh Times.INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 1 20001990s, Finland, Norway, Social Security Development in Denmark, Sweden during the 1980s For the past two decades, Nordic social policy has been subject to a range of serious challenges, among which economic problems and critiques by neo-classical economists have been most prominent. This article raises the question whether Nordic social policy has significantly changed during this period of challenges. Based on an empirical analysis of social expenditure data and three central social security programs, this article provides evidence that changes in Nordic social policy over this period have, in fact, been relatively minor. Indeed, the four welfare states of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have shown remarkable resilience considering the harsh challenges that they have been exposed to since the early 1980s. [source] New social risks in postindustrial society: Some evidence on responses to active labour market policies from EurobarometerINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 3 2004Peter Taylor-Gooby One result of the complex economic and social changes currently impacting on state welfare is the emergence of what may be termed "new social risks" as part of the shift to a postindustrial society. These concern access to adequately paid employment, particularly for lower-skilled young people, in an increasingly flexible labour market, and managing work-life balance for women with family responsibilities engaged in full-time careers. They coexist with the old social risks that traditional welfare states developed to meet, which typically concern retirement from or interruption to paid work, in most cases for a male "breadwinner". New social risks offer policymakers the opportunity to transform vice into virtue by replacing costly passive benefits with policies which mobilize the workforce, arguably enhancing economic competitiveness, and reduce poverty among vulnerable groups. However, the political constituencies to support such policies are weak, since the risks affect people most strongly at particular life stages and among specific groups. This paper examines attitudes to new social risk labour market policies in four contrasting European countries. It shows that attitudes in this area are strongly embedded in overall beliefs about the appropriate scale, direction and role of state welfare interventions, so that the weakness of new social risk constituencies does not necessarily undermine the possibility of attracting support for such policies, provided they are developed in ways that do not contradict national traditions of welfare state values. [source] The Role and Design of Income-Related Housing AllowancesINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 3 2000Peter A. Kemp Income-related housing allowance schemes have become a long-term feature of social policy in the advanced welfare states. They are not without disadvantages, however, and a number of countries have recently introduced significant reforms of their systems. The aim of this paper is to examine some key features of, and recent developments in, housing allowance programmes in seven countries. It addresses five main questions: why have income-related housing allowances become so important, what role do they play, what are the essential features of such schemes, how do they tackle concerns about moral hazard, and what are the pressures facing them? [source] Social Citizenship in the European Union: Nested MembershipJCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 1 2001Thomas Faist The ,European social dimension' offers a strategic entry point for analysing the development of citizenship in the European Union (EU). The first part of this contribution discusses the functions of social citizenship in this emerging multi-level governance network. Second, the analysis deals with two prominent and stylized paradigms that have sought to grasp the new multiple-level quality of social citizenship in the EU: residual and post-national concepts of membership in liberal democracies and advanced welfare states. Although each of these approaches captures selected elements of social citizenship, they are unable to deal with rights and duties in multiple governance levels in a satisfactory way. Therefore, the discussion moves to an alternative concept,nested citizenship. This means that European citizenship is nested in various sites: regional, state and supra-state forms of citizenship function in complementary ways,while the associated norms, rules and institutions are subject to constant revision and further development on all governance levels. Third, the analysis shows that the concept of nested citizenship can help to overcome the fruitless dichotomy of Euro-optimism and Euro-pessimism concerning social policy and citizenship. This discussion suggests a conception of European social citizenship as a common project, evolving towards common present- and future-oriented understandings of substantial rights and democratic principles in the EU. [source] A Five-Country Comparative Review of Accommodation Support Policies for Older People With Intellectual DisabilityJOURNAL OF POLICY AND PRACTICE IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 1 2010Christine Bigby Abstract International covenants and domestic social policies in most developed countries regard people with intellectual disability as citizens with equal rights, suggesting they should have the similar aspirations of a healthy and active old age as the general community, and an expectation of the necessary supports to achieve this. This article compares the development and implementation of accommodation support policies for people aging with intellectual disabilities in five liberal welfare states. It describes the limited development of policies in this area and suggests possible reasons why this is the case. A review of the peer reviewed and grey or unpublished advocacy and policy literature on aging policies for people with intellectual disability was conducted which covered Australia, Canada, Ireland, the UK, and the U.S. Despite consistent identification of similar broad policy issues and overarching goals, little progress has been made in the development of more specific policies or implementation strategies to address issues associated with accommodation support as people age. Policy debates have conceptualized the problem as aging in place and the shared responsibility of the aged-care and disability sectors. This may have detracted from either sector leading the development of, or taking responsibility for, formulating, implementing, and resourcing a strong policy framework. [source] Welfare Regimes for Aging Populations: No Single Path for ReformPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 4 2009Mehmet F. Aysan We consider recent trends in pension policies in OECD countries in light of demographic aging associated with welfare regime type (Liberal, Social Democratic, Continental, and Southern European). These regime types represent different responsibilities assumed for social security on the part of the market, the state, and the family. While there are significant differences in labor market characteristics, the demographic similarities in aging bring similar pressures for pension reforms across OECD countries. These reforms address fiscal issues in state pensions, typically by increasing the length of the working life, placing more of the pension responsibility on individuals, or converting to defined-contribution approaches. Our study shows that there is no single path for pension reform. While there are some variations, welfare states tend to follow their traditional paths, which differ across welfare regime types. [source] Effective Practice in Probation: An Example of ,Advanced Liberal' Responsibilisation?THE HOWARD JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, Issue 1 2002Hazel Kemshall This article argues that the dominant emphasis upon effective practice in probation work, particularly the emergence of effective programmes can be understood as an example of a key mechanism of social control in advanced liberal societies. Utilising Rose's concept of ,responsibilisation' the article examines the role of effective programmes in the emerging social policy agenda of citizen re-moralisation, responsibilisation and inclusion exemplified in late modern advanced liberal welfare states. The article concludes that the embracement of effective programmes has reconstituted the probation service as a key agency in the social control and exclusion of those citizens deemed ,intransigent' or ,irresponsible', thus assisting in the demarcation of those who can play a full role in the welfare society from those who cannot. [source] Globalization, the Welfare State and Young People Leaving State Out-of-Home CareASIAN SOCIAL WORK AND POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2009Philip Mendes Some theories of globalization argue that it is producing a uniform reduction in social spending, while others claim that global influences are mediated by specific national factors. This article argues that the emergence of support for young people leaving state out-of-home care in almost all developed countries provides further evidence for the mediation thesis. Using Australia as a case study, attention is drawn to the commonality of poor outcomes for many care leavers, the different legislative and policy responses to these needs in a range of welfare states, and the role played by local and global researchers and policy advocates in bringing these needs to public and political attention. [source] Ageing Society Issues in Korea,ASIAN SOCIAL WORK AND POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2009Sung-Jae Choi Korean society is facing unprecedentedly higher population ageing, particularly in the first half of the 21st century. The implications of population ageing have a much wider effect than the welfare of the elderly. From a broader and long-term perspective, understanding population ageing may require a new paradigm. Korea has attempted to model its policies for ageing society on those of advanced welfare states, but as these no longer seem viable, Korean policy-makers are searching for more effective and efficient measures to deal with its rapid ageing population. Reflecting a broader and long-term perspective, the Korean government recently produced a comprehensive national policy plan to deal with the consequences of rapid population ageing. This article outlines the phenomenon of population ageing in Korea and the recent development of national policies for population ageing, describing the Korean comprehensive national policy plan for responding to it and examining major issues and problems related to developing and implementing the plan. This article finally suggests a new, age-integrated social system approach to an ageing society. [source] Developmentalism in Korea: A Useful Tool for Explaining the Role of Social Security in the Reduction of Poverty and InequalityASIAN SOCIAL WORK AND POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2008Sang Kyun Kim It is conventional wisdom that universalism is more effective than selectivism in addressing the problems of poverty and inequality. In providing income security for the elderly, retirement pensions calculated on the principle of social insurance represent universalism and social assistance benefits on the basis of means-test selectivism. Korea has both a contributory pension scheme and social assistance program for the elderly. The social assistance began in 1961. The contributory scheme, the National Pension, started belatedly in 1988 and its coverage expanded to the entire population in 1999. We can, therefore, expect that the social security system, especially the universal pension scheme based on social insurance, has some positive impacts on the reduction of poverty and inequality. This paper, however, raises doubt as to the conventional wisdom and thus reviews the developmental process of the Korean social security system for the aged. It was found that the dominant ideological controversy revolved, not around universalism versus selectivism, but around the option between developmentalism and other strategies. Our empirical analysis showed that the public pension had little impact on the reduction of poverty and inequality, particularly in comparison with advanced welfare states. This is not surprising at all, since poverty eradication and redistribution were not major objectives of the Korean social security system. The controversy between universalism and selectivism was relatively unfamiliar in the policy process of the Korean social security system. Even though the redistributive effect is getting larger as the National Pension system becomes mature, the developmentalist model has been proved to be a more useful tool for explaining the limited role of Korean social security. [source] Social Welfare Reform Since the 1997 Economic Crisis in Korea: Achievement, Limits, and Future ProspectsASIAN SOCIAL WORK AND POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2007Inhoe Ku Social welfare reform has been implemented in Korea since the 1997 financial crisis. A dominant concern of the reform was on equality and social solidarity. A major means to this end was establishing universalistic social insurance programs like those in developed welfare states. The reform efforts produced some positive results but were not greatly successful. Income polarization and the deteriorating economic status of low-income families have become big social issues. Many low-income families have not gained many benefits from the reformed social security system. The rapid aging of the population is creating an exploding demand for social spending, risking the fiscal sustainability of major social insurance programs. The reform experience suggests that a social welfare system based on western-style universal social insurance may be too expensive to sustain and not very effective in protecting disadvantaged families in Korea. More attention is being paid to expenditure control and efficiency. Social insurance programs may need to be leaner than those in traditional welfare states. Targeted programs, such as the "making work pay" policy, are likely to be expanded more broadly to low-income families. The future of the Korean welfare state may hinge on successful employment support for working families and extensive investment in their human capital. [source] Institutions, Inequality and Social Norms: Explaining Variations in ParticipationBRITISH JOURNAL OF POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Issue 1 2007Michael Lister This article seeks to explain why electoral participation varies over time and space. It develops a hypothesis that one factor is the nature of social citizenship rights, which relates to welfare state provision. The article argues that institutions shape and influence social norms and, in so doing, affect individual behaviour. Rights which are more universal in nature encourage norms of solidarity and participation in ways that more residual systems do not. Therefore, where welfare states are more universalist in nature, we should see higher levels of participation. I use inequality rates as a measure of welfare state outputs to investigate this and find a significant negative relationship between inequality and electoral turnout. This suggests that the nature of welfare state institutions has an effect upon individuals' political behaviour. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||