scholarly journals Securing Old-Age Pensions Across Borders: Sudanese Transnational Families Across the Netherlands, the UK and Sudan

Author(s):  
Ester Serra Mingot

AbstractThis chapter explores the social-protection domain of old-age pensions for Sudanese transnational families. The chapter is based on data collected during 14 months of multi-sited and partly matched-sample ethnographic fieldwork (2015–2017) with 21 Sudanese migrants in the Netherlands, 22 in the UK and 19 of their families in Sudan. Drawing on the life stories of members of different Sudanese families, this contribution addresses the question of what kinds of consideration underlie the decisions of Sudanese migrants when moving to certain places to secure their old-age pension. The chapter shows that the different mobilities in which Sudanese migrants engage have the double aim of both providing for their elderly parents back home now and securing their own pension in the future. The findings question the idea of ‘welfare shopping’ and show that migrants’ decision to move is not based so much on more or less generous welfare states but on the possibilities to arrange their own and their families’ social protection in a manner that is deemed better in the family’s understanding of social protection, which is strongly embedded in practices of generalised reciprocity.

Author(s):  
Olga Rajevska

The author analyzes the performance of the disability pension system in Latvia in order to assess the ability of the system to perform its main function: to prevent poverty among people with disabilities. It has been found that the system does not meet the criteria of adequacy and the causes of problem have been addressed. In the analysis, the author uses statistical data from Eurostat and the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, Mutual Information System on Social Protection (MISSOC) database, as well as considers statutory regulations. Particular attention is paid to such an element of the pension system as statutory minimum pension amount as a key tool aimed at ensuring the adequacy of the social protection of people with disabilities. Additionally, the author provides a comparative analysis of minimum disability pension provisions in the EU member states. Since the systems of old-age pensions and disability pensions in Latvia are closely connected, the author emphases the importance of the improvement of the adequacy of disability pensions in achieving more adequate old-age pensions.


ARGOMENTI ◽  
2009 ◽  
pp. 31-58
Author(s):  
Marco Accorinti ◽  
Paolo Calza Bini

- Within the research project Overcoming the barriers and seizing the opportunities for Active Ageing Policies in Europe, the Italian part being carried out by the IRPPS-CNR, there has been an in-depth study of the dynamics regarding population ageing and the social security system in Italy, in the light of the notion of activation - one of the main inspiring criteria of the European Employment Strategy. The paper presents comparative European research work that has highlighted the need to deal with the old age - social security link through an integrated group of diversified policies that consider above all employment policies, life schedules and social protection. The text furthermore presents nine European experiments of gradual retirement.Keywords: Senior citizen workers, Social security, Welfare, Leave. Parole Chiave: Lavoratori Anziani, Previdenza, Welfare, Aspettative.


This book presents an up-to-date and diverse review of the best in social policy scholarship over the past year. The book considers current issues and critical debates in the UK and the international social policy field. It contains vital research on race in social policy higher education and analyses how welfare states and policies address the economic and social hardship of young people. The chapters consider the impacts of austerity on the welfare state, homelessness, libraries and other social policy areas. The book begins by asking what are the pressing racial inequalities in contemporary British society and to what extent is social policy as a discipline equipped to analyse and respond to them. It then discusses the key analysis and messages from the Social Policy Association (SPA) race audit, looking at the challenges facing the discipline, and moves on to examine the experience and views of young British Muslim women in Sunderland. Attention is given to the ‘othering’ of migrants, family welfare resources on young people's transition to economic independence, youths' labour market trajectories in Sweden, innaccessibility to community youth justice in England and Wales, benefits entitlement of different UK families, and the book concludes with the final chapters focussing on the impacts of austerity.


Author(s):  
Carlos M. Paixao Junior ◽  
Roberto A. Lourenço ◽  
Fernando Morales-Martínez

Considering questions related to South and Central America probably is best done by using the better-known term of Latin America. Although much of the history of the region has common roots, many specificities make these countries somewhat heterogeneous. However, one can say that ageing in the region has been accelerated and diverse from what was witnessed in more affluent countries elsewhere in the world, because of the persistent problem of poverty still unresolved in Latin America. The over-60 population has been growing in the region for the past 30 years, producing an increase in old-age indices and old-age dependency ratios. This raises important issues about the social protection models that should be adopted to cope with these demographic trends.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1819
Author(s):  
Katharina Zimmermann ◽  
Paolo Graziano

Attention towards topics such as environmental pollution, climate change, or biodiversity has strongly increased in the last years. The struggles to balance market powers and ecological sustainability somehow evoke memories of the early days of European welfare states, when social protection emerged as a means to prevent industrial capitalism from disruptive social tensions due to excessive social inequalities. In fact, social and environmental crises are inseparably intertwined, as ecological destruction is likely to be followed by social deprivation, and a lack of social security can be a crucial barrier for ecologically sustainable action. Our paper seeks to provide a step towards such an integrated perspective by studying problem pressure and public interventions in the area of green welfare, that is, in social and environmental protection. By using available data from Eurostat and Environmental Performance Index (EPI) databases, we contrast environmental and social performances to detect links between the social and the ecological dimension in these areas and unearth different configurations of green welfare among European countries. Our findings suggest that there are different “worlds of eco-welfare states” which only partially overlap with the more conventional “world of welfare states” but show how the Nordic countries are in the relatively-better performing cluster.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-277
Author(s):  
Silvia Rossetti ◽  
Susanne Heeger

The growth of solo self-employed workers in the Netherlands (zzp’ers) has not yet triggered a debate on how to combine their income security and business autonomy. The extent to which the social protection system and interest groups promote zzp’ers to take up collective arrangements mitigating income insecurity due to work incapacity and preventing income insecurity due to poor employability is investigated using the social risk management framework. Correcting economic obstacles and irrational risk perceptions, collective arrangements are found to encourage the take-up of work incapacity insurance and training among zzp’ers.


Author(s):  
Svitlana Surgova ◽  
Olena Faichuk

The historical aspect of the development of state social policy of social protection of children in Europe from the 17th to 21th centuries is considered in the article. The purpose of the article is to highlight the peculiarities of the historical development of the state policy of social protection of children in European countries of the 17th to 21th centuries and learning from the experience of social protection of children in the context of Ukraine's European integration. The regulatory framework of the system of social protection of children in Ukraine has been studied. The statistic on different categories of children in need of social protection by the state is analyzed. The structure of the system of social protection of children in Ukraine is considered. The research methodology is based on the principle of priority of universal human values. As part of the tools of the proposed work the theoretical one is the analysis and generalization of scientific sources, educational and methodological publications on the theme and synthesis, as well as comparison and generalization of data. Based on the analysis of materials on the peculiarities of social protection in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden and Norway, it was determined that the social protection of children in Europe is characterized by assistance to them in providing conditions for the realization of their rights and freedoms. Equally important is the setting up of various charitable institutions, schools, penal colonies that help children change, as well as the emergence of social services that protect the rights and interests of children. The authors suggest that in the course of the studying the history of the issue of state policy of children’s social protection, there is an opportunity for analogies, the implementation of already proven steps on the path of democratization of national social protection policy. The researchers see the prospects for further research in the study of global innovative forms of social protection and support for at-risk children.


2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-155
Author(s):  
Erica Righard

Abstract Epistemological hierarchies in the social sciences stipulate that sedentarism is naturalised as a normality, and that mobility is viewed as a deviation. This article sets out to propose an analytical framework that takes the analysis beyond this kind of nationalized knowledge production, and to empirically show the gains of de-nationalized frameworks for analysis of social protection and dynamics of in-/equality in the globalised society. I will do this relying on the empirical example of the public old-age pension scheme in Sweden.


2021 ◽  
pp. 363-379
Author(s):  
Kees van Kersbergen ◽  
Philip Manow

This chapter discusses the impact of religion on welfare state development in Europe, North America, and the Antipodes. In one perspective, religion is seen as a cultural force: the tenets of the Christian doctrines have strongly influenced the notions of social justice on which modern social policies were built. Varying ethical principles gave rise to different institutional forms of distribution, redistribution, and social protection and to different demands for social security, which ultimately translated into distinctive economic and social outcomes. In another view, religion is seen as a political force: the social and political movements of organized religion, particularly Christian democracy and Catholic organizations, have shaped programmes of social reform and influenced social policy formation and outcomes.Both perspectives have major shortcoming and this chapter therefore promotes a re-specification of the link between religion and the welfare state to refine and improve upon the existing views. The new approach highlights the interplay between socio-economic (class) and religious (state–church) cleavages on the one hand, and electoral systems (majoritarian or proportional) on the other. In majoritarian systems, pro-welfare state political coalitions are less likely to emerge than in proportional systems. This explains the huge contrast between the Anglo-Saxon lean welfare states and the more generous welfare states in Europe. However, taking into account the difference in cleavage structures and the party systems between Nordic and continental Europe, the new approach also explains why the former developed more universal and generous welfare systems than the latter.


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