Welfare Reform on the Web (November 2002): Welfare State - Overseas
AGGREGATE LEVEL AND DETERMINING FACTORS OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN TWELVE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
P. Takloglou and F. Papadopoulos
Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 12, 2002 p. 211-225
This paper examines the shift in the public discourse of many EU countries from "poverty" to "social exclusion." The lack of full-time employment, low educational qualifications, lone parenthood, non-EU citizenship and bad health are positively and significantly associated with increased risk of social exclusion.
CAPITAL ACCOUNT LIBERALIZATION AND POVERTY
A. Cobham
Global Social Policy, vol. 2, 2002, p. 163-188
Article sets out a framework of linkages between capital account regulation and poverty in developing countries. Concludes that while the growth benefits of financial liberalisation are far from clear for poorer countries, there may also be significant costs in poverty terms. The main policy implication of this is that capital controls need to be retained as part of the toolbox of pro-poor macroeconomic policy-making.
DEVELOPING NEW MEASURES OF WELFARE STATE CHANGE AND REFORM
F. G. Castles
European Journal of Political Research, vol. 14, 2002, p.613-614
This article explores the possibility of using the Social Expenditure Database (SOCX) to measure the extent, structure and trajectory of welfare state reform in 21 OECD countries over the period 1984 to 1997.
EU SOCIAL (EXCLUSION) POLICY REVISITED?
I. Begg and J. Berghman
Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 12, 2002, p. 179-194
This article explores the case for a more comprehensive "Europeanization". of social policy. It looks at the European social model as a means of integration. It explores the differences between countries in the "approaches to, and delivery mechanisms" of the welfare state and looks at the future role of EU social policy.
IT'S TIME TO CHARTER WELFARE DEPARTMENTS
D. Stoesz
Families in Society, vol. 83, 2002, p. 398-399
Chartering public welfare in the US would allow citizens and professionals to establish organizations to provide essential financial and social services to families. To obtain a charter, such agencies would have to meet basic standards of service provision established by local government. Apart for these basic standards, the agencies could operate free from restraints.
NEW SPACES FOR THE LOCAL WELFARE STATE? THE CASE OF GENERAL RELIEF IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY
G. DeVerteuil, W. Lee and J. Wolch
Social and Cultural Geography, vol. 3, 2002, p. 229-246
This article focuses on local state welfare strategies through an examination of the past twenty years of general relief (GR) policies in Los Angeles County. It looks at exploding demand and rising expenditures and at the various strategies designed to ration services and depress demand.
OPEN COORDINATION AGAINST POVERTY: THE NEW EU SOCIAL INCLUSION PROCESS
M. Ferrera, M. Matsagnis and S. Sacchi
Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 12, 2002, p.227-239
This article looks at the emergence of social exclusion on the EU agenda. It looks at the period from the Nice objectives to national plans - the take-off of the social inclusion process, through the role of the social protection committee and the community action programme.
ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS, MULTILATERAL ECONOMIC ORGANIZATIONS AND SOCIAL POLICY
K. O'Brien
Global Social Policy, vol. 2, 2002, p. 141-161
Multilateral economic organisations (MEOs) such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organization are structured on functionalist lines and have been married to neo-classical economic principles since the 1980s. This has made them hostile to redistributive social policy initiatives. Possible avenues for remedying this situation include:
- increasing engagement between MEOs and civic associations;
- encouraging national authorities to promote social protection agendas within MEOs;
- curbing the influence of big business.
PARALLEL TRENDS, PERSISTENT DIVERSITY : NORDIC WELFARE STATES IN THE EUROPEAN AND GLOBAL CONTEXT
M Kautto and J Kvist
Global Social Policy, vol. 2, 2002, p. 189-208
The bulk of empirical evidence supports the notion that the Nordic countries at the end of the 1990s still had a distinctive welfare state model. The characteristic features of universalism, good quality social insurance benefits and public service provision, combined with a more tax-based financing model, have remained the hallmarks of the Nordic countries' welfare policies.
SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND MACRO-ECONOMIC POLICY IN EUROPE: A PROBLEM OF DYNAMIC AND SPATIAL CHANGE.
D. G. Mayes
Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 12, 2002, p. 195-209
This article discusses whether macro-economic developments will assist in the reduction of social exclusion under European Monetary Union (EMU)
WHAT FUTURE FOR SOCIAL SECURITY?: DEBATES AND REFORMS IN NATIONAL AND CROSS-NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
J. Clasen (ed)
Bristol: Policy Press, 2002
This book looks at the debate surrounding the assumption that the 'welfare state' is contracting or retrenching due to the close scrutiny to which entitlement to social security benefits is being subject in most developed countries. It looks at reforms from a theoretical perspective across related disciplines including political science, economics, sociology and law, and also examines ways of reforming pension systems.