Does having an Indigenous Political Party in Government make a Difference to Social Policy? The Māori Party in New Zealand

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
LOUISE HUMPAGE
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Policy Innovation ◽  
National Party ◽  
The Social ◽  
Policy Frameworks ◽  
Health Initiatives ◽  
Policy Arena

AbstractIndigenous Māori in New Zealand have had significant opportunities to influence mainstream politics and policy since 2008 when the Māori Party began negotiating supply and confidence agreements with the conservative National Party in return for progress on Māori Party initiatives. This article assesses whether the Māori Party has made a difference in social policy. It argues that the holistic, whole-family-focused Whānau Ora strategy and initiatives aiming to revitalise the Māori language are significant policy innovations that uniquely embed Māori cultural values and governance into mainstream policy frameworks. A Ministerial Committee on Poverty, established as a result of National-Māori Party negotiations, put Māori politicians at the decision-making table and led to some important housing and health initiatives but fewer gains are evident regarding income/employment policies that address the disproportionate material disadvantage of Māori. Ultimately, the Māori Party has provoked policy innovation and there is some evidence of improving Māori outcomes. But political constraints inhibit opportunities for significant and lasting recognition of indigenous rights and radically improved socio-economic outcomes in the social policy arena.

Local Policy Discretion in Social Welfare: Explaining Subnational Variations in China's De Facto Urban Poverty Line

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Yu Guo ◽  
Alex Jingwei He ◽  
Fei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Intergovernmental Relations ◽  
Urban Poverty ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
The Social ◽  
Developmental Policies ◽  
Policy Arena

Abstract How do subnational agents exercise policy discretion in the social welfare sphere? To what extent do they do so as a result of various bureaucratic and fiscal incentives? The literature has documented several explanatory frameworks in the context of China that predominantly focus on the realm of developmental policies. Owing to the salient characteristics of the social policy arena, local adaptation of centrally designed policies may operate on distinctive logics. This study synthesizes the recent scholarship on subnational social policymaking and explains the significant interregional disparities in China's de facto urban poverty line – the eligibility standard of the urban minimum livelihood guarantee scheme, or dibao. Five research hypotheses are formulated for empirical examination: fiscal power effect, population effect, fiscal dependency effect, province effect and neighbour effect. Quantitative analysis of provincial-level panel data largely endorses the hypotheses. The remarkable subnational variations in dibao standards are explained by a salient constellation of fiscal and political factors that are embedded within the country's complex intergovernmental relations and fiscal arrangements. Both a race-to-the-top and a race-to-the-bottom may be fostered by distinctive mechanisms. The unique role of provincial governments as intermediary agents within China's political apparatus is illuminated in the social policy arena.

scholarly journals A Mana Wahine Critical Analysis of New Zealand Legislation Concerning Education: Implications for Addressing Māori Social Disadvantage

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Tagan Wetekia Paul
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Disadvantage ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Critical Policy Analysis ◽  
Significant Movement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Common Goals ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Critical Policy

<p>Theory and practice are intertwined, woven inextricably together by the way that each informs and is informed by the other (Moss 2002, Pihama 2001, Simmonds 2009). This research confronts and analyses the legal bases of gendered and race-based inequalities by critically analysing New Zealand social policy legislation through a mana wahine perspective. Mana wahine and critical policy analysis share common goals to challenge dominant theoretical and methodological norms in order to recognise unequal power distributions, of which colonisation is implicit (Tomlins-Jahnke 1997).  This research has been guided by a reading of literature that suggests Māori social disadvantage has become ingrained and that policies designed to address this inequality and to include Māori people and Māori perspectives in mainstreamed systems are both confusing, and yet to be successful. This study has been designed to explore present policy legislation concerning social development. A case study of the education system has been used, which draws on historic and more contemporary Western political agendas as reflected in legislative shifts.  Key findings of this research include the exclusion of mana wahine through the ongoing processes of colonisation that do not give rise to Māori cultural understandings. To summarise, the social policy context at present is characterised by: Māori demands for greater self-determination; an absence of Treaty rights for Māori; liberal interpretations of Treaty principles, and scant processes to implement them; a devoid of aspects pertinent to mana wahine, and; the contradiction between Government's articulated position on rights and inclusion in social policy and the language used in and concepts enforced by legislation.  The findings are significant and reveal the ongoing complexities of Indigenous inequalities in the context of widespread policy ‘commitment’ to inclusion and equality. The central argument developed throughout this study is that there is an urgent need to shift policy thinking toward Māori if there is to be a significant movement toward justice for Māori women, which will involve Māori-centred decolonisation and the inclusion of aspects pertinent to mana wahine.</p>

Transmigration: the rise of flexible migration strategies as part of superdiversity

2020 ◽  
pp. 100-121
Author(s):  
Dirk Geldof ◽  
Mieke Schrooten ◽  
Sophie Withaeckx
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Migration Studies ◽  
Scientific Debate ◽  
The Social ◽  
Policy Frameworks ◽  
Migration Strategies ◽  
The Eu

This chapter assesses transmigration. Within the fields of migration studies and superdiversity, transmigration and its impact on social policy are still underexplored. Yet, the rising number of transmigrants within Europe — from outside the EU as well as intra-EU-mobility — does not only challenge ideas of belonging and integration, but also existing concepts of governance and social policy. By foregrounding the cases of Brazilian, Ghanaian, and Moroccan transmigrants residing in Belgium in 2014–15, the chapter contributes to a scientific debate regarding these topics. It presents the results of a research project in the two main superdiverse Belgian cities (Brussels and Antwerp), focusing on the social problems and vulnerabilities that relate to transmigration and its inherent temporality and the way that these are experienced and addressed by social workers in superdiverse urban areas within policy frameworks that often do not (yet) recognise the changing context.

Discourses of Children's Participation: Professionals, Policies and Practices

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Pinkney
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
The Social ◽  
Policy Frameworks ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
Fresh Insight ◽  
Insight Into

This article explores the dynamic field of children's participation and provides fresh insight into its construction within professional frameworks as well as within the social policy process. Protectionism, developmentalism, rights and managerialism are identified as significant discourses and this article explores their articulation and negotiation through policies. The argument is that the settlement reached represents a new configuration within policy frameworks relating to children where a version of children's rights is appropriated and mainstreamed. The interaction between children's rights, managerialism and professional discourses are illustrated with reference to policy and legislation.

scholarly journals Women at Work: Issues for the 1990s: Introduction to the Collection

1970 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rose Ryan
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Well Being

The celebration of one hundred years of women's suffrage in New Zealand in 1993 has provided a welcome opportunity to undertake something of a "stock-take" of many aspects of women's participation in the social and economic life of New Zealand. Participation in the paid workforce is one of the most important of these, given the centrality of employment and work to social identity and economic well-being. The current re-assessment has, however, raised more questions than it has answered, given the rapidly changing social and economic environment in which women work. This includes the restructuring of the economy, the growth of the service sector, social policy changes in health and education, and the greater emphasis on market regulation of many areas previously subject to legislative regulation.

scholarly journals A Mana Wahine Critical Analysis of New Zealand Legislation Concerning Education: Implications for Addressing Māori Social Disadvantage

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Tagan Wetekia Paul
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Disadvantage ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Critical Policy Analysis ◽  
Significant Movement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Common Goals ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Critical Policy

<p>Theory and practice are intertwined, woven inextricably together by the way that each informs and is informed by the other (Moss 2002, Pihama 2001, Simmonds 2009). This research confronts and analyses the legal bases of gendered and race-based inequalities by critically analysing New Zealand social policy legislation through a mana wahine perspective. Mana wahine and critical policy analysis share common goals to challenge dominant theoretical and methodological norms in order to recognise unequal power distributions, of which colonisation is implicit (Tomlins-Jahnke 1997).  This research has been guided by a reading of literature that suggests Māori social disadvantage has become ingrained and that policies designed to address this inequality and to include Māori people and Māori perspectives in mainstreamed systems are both confusing, and yet to be successful. This study has been designed to explore present policy legislation concerning social development. A case study of the education system has been used, which draws on historic and more contemporary Western political agendas as reflected in legislative shifts.  Key findings of this research include the exclusion of mana wahine through the ongoing processes of colonisation that do not give rise to Māori cultural understandings. To summarise, the social policy context at present is characterised by: Māori demands for greater self-determination; an absence of Treaty rights for Māori; liberal interpretations of Treaty principles, and scant processes to implement them; a devoid of aspects pertinent to mana wahine, and; the contradiction between Government's articulated position on rights and inclusion in social policy and the language used in and concepts enforced by legislation.  The findings are significant and reveal the ongoing complexities of Indigenous inequalities in the context of widespread policy ‘commitment’ to inclusion and equality. The central argument developed throughout this study is that there is an urgent need to shift policy thinking toward Māori if there is to be a significant movement toward justice for Māori women, which will involve Māori-centred decolonisation and the inclusion of aspects pertinent to mana wahine.</p>

scholarly journals Social policies in the recession

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
The Social ◽  
Distributional Consequences

While we cannot prevent many of the current recession’s impacts, there are real social policy choices open to policy makers –choices that can reduce its severity, influence who bears what costs, and, importantly, have an impact on the longer-term, post recession outcomes. How well New Zealand performs economically and socially in the years after the current recession is over will depend in part on how well we manage the distributional consequences of the recession and on the social policies implemented during the recession.

Specyfika kształtowania się sektora organizacji społecznych w Nowej Zelandii

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (0) ◽  
pp. 48-54
Author(s):  
Konrad Ćwikliński
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Specific Model ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Institutional Order

Civil society and the organizations included in the system has been shaped in New Zealand by factors specific to that country, due to cultural differences the two communities forming the social space. Maori community, which as a result of natural processes of evolution has developed a specific model of social behavior. Characterized by a high respect for the family and the cultivation of cultural values. New Zealand during the colonial period was formed by regulating the social, legal and political from the British legislation, which formalization occurred with the signing of the Treaty Watangi, which gave basis for shaping the social and institutional order. On the other hand, forms of social activity and regulation known and operating in the UK since the eighteenth century. In particular, charities, clubs, lodges, societies and associations of craft. organizations.

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