Public Policy - Social Welfare Policy

(2009) “Las reformas de las políticas de bienestar en España (1980-2008): una visión de conjunto”

by Eloisa del Pino

Eloísa del Pino y Juan A. Ramos,
Luís Moreno (ed.) Reformas de las políticas de bienestar en España. Madrid: Siglo XXI

En este capítulo se presentan las conclusiones de un libro en el que se han analizado el tipo y el proceso de cambio... more En este capítulo se presentan las conclusiones de un libro en el que se han analizado el tipo y el proceso de cambio que ha experimentado el Estado del Bienestar español en los últimos 25 años desde una perspectiva de ciencia política y sociología. Se ha prestado especial atención a los factores, instituciones y actores que han intervenido en el cambio de las distintas políticas sociales. Como se ha explicado en el capítulo segundo, donde se presentaba el modelo explicativo, para analizar cada una de las políticas se ha utilizado una doble perspectiva. Tras un repaso a las trayectorias de las políticas en el periodo de tiempo considerado (1980-2008), se ha pasado al examen más detallado de los que se han denominado “episodios de cambio” (en ocasiones sólo intentos de cambio) en esas políticas. La información más relevante utilizada para el análisis de las reformas concretas proviene principalmente de la realización de alrededor de 120 entrevistas en profundidad con los protagonistas de tales procesos de cambio (agentes sociales, responsables públicos, políticos y funcionarios, y representantes de organizaciones de interés) y expertos en cada política. Además, se ha explorado la prensa de esos años y se han consultado otras fuentes documentales generadas por los actores de la reforma.

"Conservar el Estado frente al reformismo de la nueva beneficencia"

by Vicente Caballero de la Torre

"Conservar el Estado frente al reformismo de la nueva beneficencia". Le monde diplomatique (Edición española), enero de 2007.

El presente artículo, escrito en 2007, tiene como objeto mostrar las relaciones que se establecen entre el paulatino... more El presente artículo, escrito en 2007, tiene como objeto mostrar las relaciones que se establecen entre el paulatino vaciamiento del Estado de ciertas competencias consideradas “sociales”, el auge de la “sociedad red” –denominada ideológicamente “sociedad de la información”- y el regreso de la beneficencia en forma de Obras sociales a cargo de la banca y las cajas. La banca y las cajas no se aproximan sólo en el "modus operandi" en lo que refiere a la oferta de productos financieros y la “agresividad” de estos sino que también se sitúan en la misma línea de la filantropía "new age".

A Disarmingly Simple Idea? Practical Bottlenecks in Implementing a Universal Basic Income

by Jurgen De Wispelaere

Published in International Social Security Review 65(2), 2012 (co-authored with Lindsay Stirton)

This paper considers the implementation of a universal basic income, a neglected area in basic income research. We... more This paper considers the implementation of a universal basic income, a neglected area in basic income research. We identify and examine three important practical bottlenecks that may prevent a basic income scheme from attaining the universal reach desired and proclaimed by its advocates: (1) maintaining a population-wide cadaster of eligible claimants ensuring full take-up; (2) instituting robust modalities of payment that reach all intended beneficiaries; and (3) designing an effective oversight mechanism in a policy context that actively opposes client monitoring. We argue basic income faces unique implementation challenges that its proponents must consider carefully.

Licensing Parents to Protect Our Children?

by Jurgen De Wispelaere

Forthcoming in Ethics and Social Welfare, 2012 (co-authored with Daniel Weinstock)

In this paper we re-examine Hugh LaFollette’s (1980) proposal that the state carefully determine the eligibility and... more In this paper we re-examine Hugh LaFollette’s (1980) proposal that the state carefully determine the eligibility and suitability of potential parents before granting them a “license to parent.” Assuming a prima facie case for licensing parents grounded in our duty to promote the welfare of the child, we offer several considerations that complicate LaFollette’s radical proposal. We suggest that LaFollette can only escape these problems by revising his proposal in a way that renders the license effectively obsolete, a route he implicitly adopts in his recent revisiting of the licensing proposal (LaFollette, 2010). We conclude that there is little merit in the idea of licensing “natural” parents as a practical policy proposal, and raise some questions about its continued use in relation to adoptive and foster parents.

(2006) ¿Cómo y por qué se reforman los Estados de Bienestar? Avances y retos teóricos y metodológicos en la agenda de investigación actual.

by Eloisa del Pino

Zona Abierta 114/115, 1-42 (CON CÉSAR COLINO).

¿Hacia dónde se dirige el Estado de Bienestar? ¿Puede afirmarse que el Estado de Bienestar ha entrado en una nueva... more ¿Hacia dónde se dirige el Estado de Bienestar? ¿Puede afirmarse que el Estado de Bienestar ha entrado en una nueva etapa de reforma? ¿Cuál es la dirección de esta reforma?¿Hasta que punto se está produciendo un desmantelamiento de las estructuras y programas del bienestar? ¿Cómo consiguen los gobiernos generar las condiciones sociales y políticas necesarias y neutralizar los obstáculos que hasta ahora habían inhibido el recorte de los programas de bienestar permitiendo sólo un ajuste de los mismos? ¿Por qué algunos gobiernos han iniciado reformas, en principio, contrarias a las prioridades ciudadanas aún suponiendo que esta actitud podía depararles un posible fiasco electoral? ¿Cómo superan la barrera que constituyen las clientelas generadas alrededor de los programas de bienestar? ¿Cómo neutralizan los problemas de la resistencia e inercia institucional? Finalmente, ¿cómo puede abordarse el análisis de la reforma?
En este número monográfico de la revista Zona Abierta se presentan, con el fin de divulgar la discusión internacional y promover los debates sobre el tema en la Ciencia Política y la Sociología Política en España, algunas de las principales aportaciones de los últimos años sobre la reforma del EB. En el número se incluye una selección del núcleo más básico de la discusión actual sobre los condicionantes de la reforma del Estado Bienestar desde la perspectiva de la Ciencia Política .

Poverty, Incarceration: Managing the Poor in the Neoliberal Age

by reuben miller

Guest Edited Special Edition of the Journal of Poverty

I am working with Stephen Haymes of DePaul University as a guest editor and contributor to a special edition of the... more I am working with Stephen Haymes of DePaul University as a guest editor and contributor to a special edition of the Journal of Poverty that features interdisciplinary perspectives on poverty, the prison, and the experiences of poor people moving in, through and out of interconnected social institutions. This special edition, entitled “Poverty and Incarceration: Managing the Poor in the Neoliberal Age” will be published in the fall of 2012 and is slated for reprint as an edited volume under Routledge.

(2011) “Are Spaniards different? European convergence and regional divergence in the evaluation of Welfare State”

by Eloisa del Pino

In A. M. Guillén and M. León (eds.) The Spanish Welfare State in the European Context. Londres: Ashgate (WITH INES CALZADA).

The main question that it addresses is whether the attitudes of Spaniards are similar to those of citizens of other... more The main question that it addresses is whether the attitudes of Spaniards are similar to those of citizens of other European welfare states subject to equal challenges or, conversely, whether they are different because of the peculiarities of the Spanish model. We compared attitudes towards the welfare state in Spain with those in a set of European countries.
Some divergences and convergences exist between Spanish citizens’ attitudes towards their welfare regime and those in other, more consolidated welfare states throughout Europe. The divergences seem to be related to the incomplete development of the Spanish welfare state, where citizens are
perhaps more demanding, especially with regard to certain policy sectors. The convergences in attitudes are a result of the common challenges and pressures that Western welfare regimes are experiencing. When we break down Spaniards’ attitudes according to the autonomous communities where they live, we find some divergences within the country.

Jus 2012

by Luca R. Perfetti

Punishing progress and expecting failure: Alberta families’ experiences accessing health and social services systems

by Elaine Hyshka

Mayan, M. M., Grey, E., Lo, S. S., & Hyshka, E. (2011). Punishing progress and expecting failure: Alberta families’ experiences accessing health and social services systems. Canadian Social Work Review, 28(1), 107-126.

2012, « The Historicity of the Neoliberal State », in Social Anthropology, volume 20, n° 1, pp. 80-94

by Mathieu Hilgers

Debate with Loic Wacquant “Three Steps to a Historical Anthropology of Actually Existing Neoliberalism." Social Anthropology, 20, 1, with responses in the next issue: Jamie Peck, Nick Theodore, and Neil Brenner, Stephen Collier, Daniel Goldstein, Johanna Bockman, Don Kalb...

Welfare to work interventions and their effects on the health and well-being of lone parents and their children.

by Candida Fenton

Gibson M, Banas K, Thomson H, Bambra C, Bond L, McKee M, Lutje V, Fenton C.
Edinburgh: Chief Scientist's Office, 2011

ZUR SITUATION ÄLTERER OBDACHLOSER IN URBANEN RÄUMEN JAPANS: URSACHEN, ÜBERLEBENSSTRATE

by Julia Obinger

Cooperatives and nonprofit organizations in Swedish social welfare

by Filip Wijkström

This is a copy of an article published in the journal Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics (67:1, 1996)

ABSTRACT:

The Swedish welfare system was early on developed in an
incremental fashion in close... more ABSTRACT:

The Swedish welfare system was early on developed in an
incremental fashion in close interaction between the state and a range of voluntary social movement organizations. Consequently, Swedish civil society organizations do not quite fit accepted typologies, with regard to underlying normative principles, fields of activity and organizational forms. The absolute size of the Swedish nonprofit sector is comparable with that of other European countries. However, the bulk of its activity is within policy formulation, rather than service provision; concepts of membership and ‘popular movement ’ are central, and charitable organizations are marginal.

In this article, he spread of existing organizational forms is reviewed, with particular reference to the role of cooperatives. New cooperative users’ and producers’ organizations play an important role in the current expansion of third-sector organizations providing welfare services. Three cases of new cooperative forms in the 1990s are appended.

Cooperatives and nonprofit organizations in Swedish social welfare

by Filip Wijkström

This is a copy of an article published in the journal Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics (67:1, 1996)

ABSTRACT:

The Swedish welfare system was early on developed in an
incremental fashion in close... more ABSTRACT:

The Swedish welfare system was early on developed in an
incremental fashion in close interaction between the state and a range of voluntary social movement organizations. Consequently, Swedish civil society organizations do not quite fit accepted typologies, with regard to underlying normative principles, fields of activity and organizational forms. The absolute size of the Swedish nonprofit sector is comparable with that of other European countries. However, the bulk of its activity is within policy formulation, rather than service provision; concepts of membership and ‘popular movement ’ are central, and charitable organizations are marginal.

In this article, he spread of existing organizational forms is reviewed, with particular reference to the role of cooperatives. New cooperative users’ and producers’ organizations play an important role in the current expansion of third-sector organizations providing welfare services. Three cases of new cooperative forms in the 1990s are appended.

Renta básica y emancipación social: principios, diseños y coaliciones

by Jurgen De Wispelaere

Published in David Casassas and Daniel Raventós (eds.) La renta básica en la era de las grandes desigualdades. Barcelona: Montesinos, 2011 (co-authored with David Casassas)

Transnational Standards of Social Protection: Contrasting European and International Governance

by Poul F. Kjaer

Christian Joerges and Poul F. Kjaer (eds.).
University of Oslo Centre for European Studies Report No. 5/08
Reconstituting Democracy in Europe Report No. 4, 2008

The present report contains the proceedings of the inter-disciplinary workshop ‘Transnational Standards of Social... more The present report contains the proceedings of the inter-disciplinary workshop ‘Transnational Standards of Social Protection: Contrasting European and International Governance’, which was jointly organised by the EU funded project Reconstituting Democracy in Europe (RECON) and the Collaborative Research Center 'Transformations of the State' at the University of Bremen.

The report contains 10 contributions concerned with different aspects of social regulation within the EU as well as within global structures such as the WTO.

Free basic water—a sustainable instrument for a sustainable future in South Africa

by Mike Muller

Van bijstand naar werk: maar dan? Een onderzoek naar het vervolg op uitstroom uit de bijstand naar werk. dienst Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid [ …

by Alex Hekelaar

Education, equality and the European social model

by Jacky Brine

Published 2009 in R. Dale & S. Robertson (eds) GLOBALISATION AND EUROPEANISATION IN EDUCATION, Oxford: Symposium Books.

Co-authored with P. Rasmussen, P. Boyadjieva, K. Lynch, M. Peters & H. Sunker.

Social welfare and education have been themes in European collaboration since the early days of the Treaty of Rome.... more Social welfare and education have been themes in European collaboration since the early days of the Treaty of Rome. Especially after the establishment in 2000 of the Lisbon agenda the EU has stepped up its efforts in these two areas and has integrated both of them in a strategy for growth and employment. The importance of education is often mentioned in EU documents on social welfare. However, European policies in the areas of welfare and education are marked by a fundamental tension between the pursuit of capitalist growth on one hand, the pursuit of social justice and equality on the other. This often leads to an impoversihed conceptualisation of education as just another service to be delivered on the market. A more holistic approach to education policy is necessary, an approach which takes account of the broader conditions of equality and includes not only the economic, but also the political, cultural and affective dimensions of educational equality.

Welfare to work: training, benefits, un/employment and social justice

by Jacky Brine

Published 2011  in S. Jackson (Ed) LIFELONG LEARNING AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: COMMUNITIES, WORK AND IDENTITIES IN A GLOBALISED WORLD, Leicester: National Institute of Adult and Continuing Education (NIACE).

This chapter explores a specific aspect of lifelong learning: of 'skills and training', of lifelong learning linked to... more This chapter explores a specific aspect of lifelong learning: of 'skills and training', of lifelong learning linked to economic participation through the employment market - or more accurately, to the underbelly of the employment market, to the 'unemployed', and most recently to those identified as 'economically inactive'. The chapter is located at the interface of active labour market policies, welfare reforms and lifelong learning that impact directly on what are arguably the most vulnerable members of society - those with chronic illness or disabilities. The discussion is underpinned by theories of social justice, particularly those related to distribution of resources and constructions of disadvantage.