319 15 Global social security policy Lutz Leisering Overview The idea that every person on the globe should be covered by social protection seems to be self-evident, but it is rather recent. This chapter explains the meaning of the terms ‘social protection’ and ‘social security’, and how social security has evolved historically. Global social security has a complex history, with distinct histories in the Global North, in the Global South, and in global arenas with international organisations as key actors, and these histories are intertwined. Social
83 FIVE Social security policies in 2005 Paul Dornan Introduction 2005 has seen three Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions – Alan Johnson, David Blunkett and latterly John Hutton. The year also saw a May General Election with the return to office of the Labour Party, albeit with a reduced majority. There has been particular concern over the delivery of the tax credit scheme, leading to both administrative and policy reform announcements within the year. The build-up to the Welfare Reform Green Paper, discussed and delayed through much of 2005 but not
61 Social security policy FIVE Social security policy KEy iSSuES The Chinese government’s abolition of communes and the changing nature of work units from multiple caring institutions to pure economic units led to increasing numbers of unsupported older people, and unemployed workers suffering from poverty. Over the past three decades, the Chinese government has attempted to build a new social security system to secure social stability and promote economic development. This chapter discusses: • the welfare functions of communes and work units before China
has established a clear position of dominance and secured the upper hand vis-à-vis the other regional claimants, and has put non-regional actors, without a direct claim on the SCS, on the defensive. Accordingly, the SCS has become one of the anchors, if not the leading anchor, of China’s newly assertive foreign and security policy behaviour. 5 The combination of its importance, its longitude – running well over a decade – and its success, makes the SCS an ideal case study of its foreign and security policy, notably under Xi. It offers clues and lessons on Chinese
223 Part V Issues in social security policy The evaluation of the impact of social policy usually depends on its aims. That is difficult to do for social security. Social security does not have a single set of aims, or aims that tend in a particular direction; there are many, and in the context of particular benefits, conflicting objectives often jockey together for priority. This part of the book focuses, instead, on a limited but important range of evaluative criteria, principally concerned with the question of whether the system offers value
57 FOUR Policy analysis and normative theory: with a focus on social security policies Wataru Sano Introduction It has long been noted that public policy in Japan is ad hoc in nature, unsystematic and inconsistent. Why has this situation persisted for so long? Much debate has already been devoted to this very question. Causes that have often been cited include the existence of vertical divisions in hierarchical administrative organisations and the inability by the ruling cabinets and political parties to integrate those divisions. Of course, these
347© The Policy Press, 2012 • ISSN 0305 5736 Key words: Irish social security • ideology • interests • institutions Policy & Politics vol 40 no 3 • 347-65 (2012) • http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/030557312X626640 Interests, institutions and ideas: explaining Irish social security policy Mary Murphy The focus of this article is the interaction of institutions, interests and ideas as explanatory factors for change and continuity in welfare regimes. The case study of the politics of Irish social security (1986–2010) explores how and why the Irish social security
33 TWO Social security policy and low wages in austere times Chris Grover Introduction This chapter considers state responses to low wages. It develops from the view that low wages are economically problematic for both individuals and the state, as they create dilemmas related to social reproduction, and financial incentives to take waged work. As the solutions to these dilemmas have been expressed differently at various moments in England and later in the UK, the chapter places policies aimed at addressing low wages in their historical context. It traces
, 2013 ; Acharya, 2016 ) both through internal skirmishes among EU member states as well as by external challenges on the level of international politics (Gurol and Rodríguez, 2020), the EU’s foreign and security policy can still be understood, above all, as one that prioritizes normativity ( Eriksen, 2014 ; Keukeleire and Delreux, 2014 ; Sjursen and Rosén, 2017). China, in contrast, is most commonly considered an inherently pragmatic and rationalist actor, following a logic of consequentialism. Its foreign policy model appears to be opposed to the normative
This volume brings together international experts to provide fresh perspectives on geopolitical concerns in the South China Sea.
The book considers the interests and security strategies of each of the nations with a claim to ownership and jurisdiction in the Sea. Examining contexts including the region’s natural resources and China’s behaviour, the book also assesses the motivations and approaches of other states in Asia and further afield.
This is an accessible, even-handed and comprehensive examination of current and future rivalries and challenges in one of the most strategically important and militarized maritime regions of the world.
