Pub Date : 2009-10-01DOI: 10.1080/17486830903189931
P. Achterberg, M. Yerkes
In this article we try to investigate the empirical validity of the convergence thesis, which assumes that welfare states are increasingly similar because more generous universal welfare states are adopting policies of retrenchment and neo-liberalization. Using data on the popularity of neo-liberal ideology, welfare state expenditures and the generosity of this spending for 16 western countries, we find that there is no general trend towards neo-liberalization and retrenchment. However, we do find that there is a trend towards convergence. More generous, universal welfare states are becoming more liberalized, and liberal welfare states are expanding, which causes convergence in the middle. At the end of the article we attempt to explain why welfare states are converging. We find that although they do not converge on neo-liberalization as is often thought, two common explanations used to support the neo-liberal convergence arguments, globalization and Europeanization, can explain the “middle-of-the-road” convergence found here.
{"title":"One welfare state emerging? Convergence versus divergence in 16 western countries","authors":"P. Achterberg, M. Yerkes","doi":"10.1080/17486830903189931","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17486830903189931","url":null,"abstract":"In this article we try to investigate the empirical validity of the convergence thesis, which assumes that welfare states are increasingly similar because more generous universal welfare states are adopting policies of retrenchment and neo-liberalization. Using data on the popularity of neo-liberal ideology, welfare state expenditures and the generosity of this spending for 16 western countries, we find that there is no general trend towards neo-liberalization and retrenchment. However, we do find that there is a trend towards convergence. More generous, universal welfare states are becoming more liberalized, and liberal welfare states are expanding, which causes convergence in the middle. At the end of the article we attempt to explain why welfare states are converging. We find that although they do not converge on neo-liberalization as is often thought, two common explanations used to support the neo-liberal convergence arguments, globalization and Europeanization, can explain the “middle-of-the-road” convergence found here.","PeriodicalId":270572,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Social Welfare","volume":"76 2","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114009729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-10-01DOI: 10.1080/17486830903190020
Brij Mohan
Global poverty and inequality, in the context of current capitalist crisis, will remain a daunting challenge in the twenty-first century. This reality will unleash an era of post-democracy bedeviled by multifaceted meltdowns in political, cultural and economic structures. The outcome will be a catastrophe that will be beyond any human intervention unless we think self-critically and fast. This article seeks to theorize the main processes that thwart the rational–humane logic of development in the “post-American world”.
{"title":"The politics of development","authors":"Brij Mohan","doi":"10.1080/17486830903190020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17486830903190020","url":null,"abstract":"Global poverty and inequality, in the context of current capitalist crisis, will remain a daunting challenge in the twenty-first century. This reality will unleash an era of post-democracy bedeviled by multifaceted meltdowns in political, cultural and economic structures. The outcome will be a catastrophe that will be beyond any human intervention unless we think self-critically and fast. This article seeks to theorize the main processes that thwart the rational–humane logic of development in the “post-American world”.","PeriodicalId":270572,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Social Welfare","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121328683","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-10-01DOI: 10.1080/17486830903189972
P. P. Hong, Shweta Singh, Juliane Ramic
Over the past few years, involuntary resettlement has incurred adverse social and economic consequences for those displaced due to the shortcomings of resettlement and rehabilitation policies. Poor planning, implementation, and monitoring during the involuntary resettlement process resulted in unnecessary resettlement that interrupted provision of basic necessities to the people affected. This article attempts to address the severity and scope of this problem by comparatively reviewing past development projects that were accompanied with involuntary resettlement. The article proposes alternative models of development and resettlement that can potentially inform an internationally viable set of standards to be used as an evaluation tool for domestic policies surrounding displacement.
{"title":"Development-induced impoverishment among involuntarily displaced populations","authors":"P. P. Hong, Shweta Singh, Juliane Ramic","doi":"10.1080/17486830903189972","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17486830903189972","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past few years, involuntary resettlement has incurred adverse social and economic consequences for those displaced due to the shortcomings of resettlement and rehabilitation policies. Poor planning, implementation, and monitoring during the involuntary resettlement process resulted in unnecessary resettlement that interrupted provision of basic necessities to the people affected. This article attempts to address the severity and scope of this problem by comparatively reviewing past development projects that were accompanied with involuntary resettlement. The article proposes alternative models of development and resettlement that can potentially inform an internationally viable set of standards to be used as an evaluation tool for domestic policies surrounding displacement.","PeriodicalId":270572,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Social Welfare","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114883008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-06-01DOI: 10.1080/17486830902789772
J. Midgley
Like other Western countries, the United States has a pluralist system of retirement provision that has been managed by the state and has worked well. However, this system is changing as defined-benefit occupational pensions are gradually being replaced by individual retirement accounts and as efforts to privatise the Social Security system have intensified. This trend is indicative of a gradual shift towards a welfare consumerist system in which retirement accounts play a vital role. The implications of this trend for the future of retirement-income protection in the United States are considered.
{"title":"Welfare pluralism and the future of retirement-income protection in the United States","authors":"J. Midgley","doi":"10.1080/17486830902789772","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17486830902789772","url":null,"abstract":"Like other Western countries, the United States has a pluralist system of retirement provision that has been managed by the state and has worked well. However, this system is changing as defined-benefit occupational pensions are gradually being replaced by individual retirement accounts and as efforts to privatise the Social Security system have intensified. This trend is indicative of a gradual shift towards a welfare consumerist system in which retirement accounts play a vital role. The implications of this trend for the future of retirement-income protection in the United States are considered.","PeriodicalId":270572,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Social Welfare","volume":"28 17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129843146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-06-01DOI: 10.1080/17486830902789715
Christine Trampusch
Within the literature of welfare state retrenchment, the “solidarity-decline thesis” is discussed. It is argued that the privatisation of pension schemes leads to a decrease of solidarity. On the basis of an empirical analysis of collective agreements on pension in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and France, this article discusses this thesis. It reviews concepts of solidarity used in the literature and develops a two-dimensional scheme of four different concepts. It is argued that pensions based on industrial agreements may compensate to a certain degree for solidarity losses caused by retrenchment policies.
{"title":"Collective agreements on pensions as a source of solidarity","authors":"Christine Trampusch","doi":"10.1080/17486830902789715","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17486830902789715","url":null,"abstract":"Within the literature of welfare state retrenchment, the “solidarity-decline thesis” is discussed. It is argued that the privatisation of pension schemes leads to a decrease of solidarity. On the basis of an empirical analysis of collective agreements on pension in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and France, this article discusses this thesis. It reviews concepts of solidarity used in the literature and develops a two-dimensional scheme of four different concepts. It is argued that pensions based on industrial agreements may compensate to a certain degree for solidarity losses caused by retrenchment policies.","PeriodicalId":270572,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Social Welfare","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129183219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-06-01DOI: 10.1080/17486830902789764
K. Mann
This article examines the role of employers in providing retirement pensions in three countries that are often characterised as “liberal/Anglo” welfare regimes; the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. It will be suggested that despite some similarities, with a drift away from public welfare rights and industrial/collective rights occurring in all three, there are some differences in how this has been managed. It is suggested that welfare retrenchment and a retreat from collective rights, in both the public and industrial/occupational arenas, is not primarily about public expenditures but rather about shifting the balance of individual, state and employer rights and responsibilities.
{"title":"Transforming employer responsibilities: the privatisation of occupational pensions","authors":"K. Mann","doi":"10.1080/17486830902789764","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17486830902789764","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the role of employers in providing retirement pensions in three countries that are often characterised as “liberal/Anglo” welfare regimes; the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. It will be suggested that despite some similarities, with a drift away from public welfare rights and industrial/collective rights occurring in all three, there are some differences in how this has been managed. It is suggested that welfare retrenchment and a retreat from collective rights, in both the public and industrial/occupational arenas, is not primarily about public expenditures but rather about shifting the balance of individual, state and employer rights and responsibilities.","PeriodicalId":270572,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Social Welfare","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121719762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-06-01DOI: 10.1080/17486830902789780
W. Cartwright, P. Kitsantas, Steven R. Rose
A demographic–economic model is used to estimate the impact of evidenced-based, substance-abuse social intervention that addresses delinquent crime. If ramped-up with more extensive financing, prevention would have many beneficial effects on drug and behavioral problems of delinquent youth. Historical data show drug use accelerates in the 14–15 year age group and peaks in the 18–20 year age group and then begins to decline until age 30. Over a 1-year interval, African Americans aged 12–17 have been found to use illicit drugs at a rate of 14% and Whites at 17%; however, African American youth drug offenses are 51% higher than comparable White youth offenses. Significant economic costs are generated by the disproportionate criminal justice outcomes experienced by African American adolescents, and cost savings are calculated. Two scenarios are developed to illustrate the effect of expanded programming for at-risk youths. A decline in residential placement in the juvenile justice system is projected along with cost savings to taxpayers and victims.
{"title":"A demographic–economic model for adolescent substance abuse and crime prevention","authors":"W. Cartwright, P. Kitsantas, Steven R. Rose","doi":"10.1080/17486830902789780","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17486830902789780","url":null,"abstract":"A demographic–economic model is used to estimate the impact of evidenced-based, substance-abuse social intervention that addresses delinquent crime. If ramped-up with more extensive financing, prevention would have many beneficial effects on drug and behavioral problems of delinquent youth. Historical data show drug use accelerates in the 14–15 year age group and peaks in the 18–20 year age group and then begins to decline until age 30. Over a 1-year interval, African Americans aged 12–17 have been found to use illicit drugs at a rate of 14% and Whites at 17%; however, African American youth drug offenses are 51% higher than comparable White youth offenses. Significant economic costs are generated by the disproportionate criminal justice outcomes experienced by African American adolescents, and cost savings are calculated. Two scenarios are developed to illustrate the effect of expanded programming for at-risk youths. A decline in residential placement in the juvenile justice system is projected along with cost savings to taxpayers and victims.","PeriodicalId":270572,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Social Welfare","volume":"274 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123086681","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-06-01DOI: 10.1080/17486830902789707
J. Dixon, Mark S. Hyde
Social policy analysis I take to be the study of the organised efforts of society to meet identifiable personal needs of, or social problems presented by, groups or individuals, evaluating them by reference to their adequacy and effectiveness in attaining certain goals, their economy in the use of scarce resources and their consistency with accepted social values. (Eveline M. Burns, cited in Shlakman, 1969, p. 4)
{"title":"Eveline M. Burns: a tribute","authors":"J. Dixon, Mark S. Hyde","doi":"10.1080/17486830902789707","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17486830902789707","url":null,"abstract":"Social policy analysis I take to be the study of the organised efforts of society to meet identifiable personal needs of, or social problems presented by, groups or individuals, evaluating them by reference to their adequacy and effectiveness in attaining certain goals, their economy in the use of scarce resources and their consistency with accepted social values. (Eveline M. Burns, cited in Shlakman, 1969, p. 4)","PeriodicalId":270572,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Social Welfare","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116131059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-06-01DOI: 10.1080/17486830902789731
Tessa Hebb, L. Beeferman
For much of the relevant literature, the “Anglo-liberal” model is the least satisfactory approach to the provision of retirement pensions. This article addresses a particular aspect of the Anglo-liberal model, the investment of retirement savings in equities and other interest-bearing assets, to augment retirement benefits. The management of such investment pays insufficient attention to the externalities that may arise from corporate decision-making. Nevertheless, several US pension funds have embraced labour-friendly investment practices, which are vital to the well-being of employees, as well as the maintenance of sustainable and vibrant communities. In this respect, the Anglo-liberal model is not necessarily at variance with the demands of social justice and inclusion.
{"title":"Can private pension funds be socially responsible? The US experience","authors":"Tessa Hebb, L. Beeferman","doi":"10.1080/17486830902789731","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17486830902789731","url":null,"abstract":"For much of the relevant literature, the “Anglo-liberal” model is the least satisfactory approach to the provision of retirement pensions. This article addresses a particular aspect of the Anglo-liberal model, the investment of retirement savings in equities and other interest-bearing assets, to augment retirement benefits. The management of such investment pays insufficient attention to the externalities that may arise from corporate decision-making. Nevertheless, several US pension funds have embraced labour-friendly investment practices, which are vital to the well-being of employees, as well as the maintenance of sustainable and vibrant communities. In this respect, the Anglo-liberal model is not necessarily at variance with the demands of social justice and inclusion.","PeriodicalId":270572,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Social Welfare","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121492261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-06-01DOI: 10.1080/17486830902789749
Mark S. Hyde, J. Dixon
For a growing number of social policy analysts, the privatisation of pensions should be understood as an integral element of welfare retrenchment. Driven by the core values of “neo-liberalism”, it is intended to diminish collective responsibility for retirement income futures. We take issue with this characterisation of pensions privatisation. A cross-national comparative analysis of mandated private pensions suggests that the market orientation of their design is generally ambivalent. While the architects of these arrangements have embraced market principles, they have also accepted the principle of collective responsibility. The privatisation of pensions has not been informed, universally or comprehensively, by the core values of neo-liberalism.
{"title":"Individual and collective responsibility: mandated private pensions in a comparative perspective","authors":"Mark S. Hyde, J. Dixon","doi":"10.1080/17486830902789749","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17486830902789749","url":null,"abstract":"For a growing number of social policy analysts, the privatisation of pensions should be understood as an integral element of welfare retrenchment. Driven by the core values of “neo-liberalism”, it is intended to diminish collective responsibility for retirement income futures. We take issue with this characterisation of pensions privatisation. A cross-national comparative analysis of mandated private pensions suggests that the market orientation of their design is generally ambivalent. While the architects of these arrangements have embraced market principles, they have also accepted the principle of collective responsibility. The privatisation of pensions has not been informed, universally or comprehensively, by the core values of neo-liberalism.","PeriodicalId":270572,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Social Welfare","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124147639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}