The rise of big philanthropy in global social policy: implications for policy transfer and analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
ROOSA LAMBIN ◽  
REBECCA SURENDER

Abstract A new group of Western development donors has emerged as increasingly influential actors in global social policy. Big philanthropies have begun implementing social protection projects on a vast scale across the Global South and have become integrated within global governance structures. It is essential to examine whether their approach to social policy in the South is effective, legitimate and desirable for the substantive agendas and programmes in these countries and for analysis of social policy in a development context. This study investigates contemporary big philanthropies through a qualitative case-study of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its role in the health sector in Tanzania. It examines the ways in which big philanthropies engage and seek to influence policy on the ground, directly exploring the views and experiences of local stakeholders. The study finds that big philanthropies have distinctive features and mechanisms as global social policy entrepreneurs. In contrast to the vertical and linear processes associated with traditional policy transfer, a more messy and complex set of mechanisms are observed. The study also indicates that despite considerable resources and authority, philanthropic donors may not be effective in securing policy reform within aid-receiving countries due to a lack of transparency and embeddedness.

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (9) ◽  
pp. 2195-2221
Author(s):  
Kerry Daniels ◽  
Ian Frederick Wilkinson ◽  
Louise Young ◽  
Steven (Qiang) Lu

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of brand love by studying its intensity and the nature of extreme forms of it, rather than its presence or absence. The love of a sports team is a type of brand love and is a valuable context to study of brand love intensity because the intensity of love can become more extreme than for products; it has two distinctive features that are theoretically, management and policy relevant; and it is an under-researched context in marketing that is socially and economically significant. Design/methodology/approach The authors empirically develop and test a multidimensional hierarchical higher-order measure of the intensity of team love and a model of its drivers and outcomes using a sample of supporter club members of a professional sports team who vary in their intensity of love for the team. Findings The results support our measurement model and its distinctive features, especially the importance of the perceived two-way bond fans have with their team. While overall intensity of team love is not related to social influence or on-field performance, as hypothesized, they are related to sub-dimensions of team love, reflecting its multidimensionality. As hypothesized, the intensity of team love and social influence are related to the intention to renew club membership even with increased costs and poor performance and social influence is directly related to word of mouth and game attendance. Research limitations/implications The research is limited to the club members of one sports team in a particular sport in one country and one cultural context. Future research opportunities include: extending it to other sports and brand contexts, refining the methodology and addressing other issues highlighted by the research. Practical implications The results indicate the limits of management control of team love intensity because it develops over time independently through social processes. However, firms can help facilitate these processes. The social dimensions indicate the need to develop socially, as well as individually-focussed relationship management strategies. Most devoted fans are valuable customers, but some hardcore elements can be dysfunctional and sabotage the brand. Social implications Sport is personally, social and economically significant in most cultures and love of a sports team love can be an important glue that binds people and communities. However, the existence of extreme hardcore fans and heated rivalries can also be divisive and pose challenges for social policy. Hence, the need to better understand the factors driving more extreme forms of team love to better inform the development of social policy. Originality/value The authors focus on the intensity of brand love rather than its presence and absence as in prior research. The authors develop and test a new hierarchical measure of sports team love intensity and a model of its drivers and outcomes. The sports context is under-researched in marketing but reveals the important role played by dimensions that are obscured in studies of product brand love – its social nature and the perceived reciprocal relation with devoted fans. The results contribute to developing extended theories of brand love, open up new research opportunities and have management and policy implications.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Angeliki Moisidou

A statistical analysis has been conducted with the aim to elucidate the effect of health care systems (HSs) on health inequalities assessed in terms of (a) differential access to health care services and (b) varying health outcomes among different models of HSs in EU-15 ((Beveridge: UK, IE, SE, FI, DK), (Bismarck: DE, FR, BE, LU, AT, NL), (Southern European model: GR, IT, ES, PT)). In the effort to interpret the results of the empirical analysis, we have ascertained systematic differences among the HSs in EU-15. Specifically, it is concluded that countries with Beveridge HS can be characterized more efficient (than average) in the most examined correlations, showing particularly high performance in the health sector. Similarly, countries with Bismarck HS record fairly satisfactory performance, but simultaneously they display more structural weaknesses compared with the Beveridge model. In addition, our empirical analysis has shown that adopting Bismarck model requires higher economic cost, compared with the Beveridge model, which is directly financed by taxation. On the contrary, in the countries with Southern European HS, the lowest performances are generally identified, which can be attributed to the residual social protection that characterizes these countries. The paper concludes with a synthesis of the empirical findings of our research. It proposes some directions for further research and presents a set of implications for policymakers regarding the planning and implementation of appropriate policies in order to tackle health inequality within HSs.


2020 ◽  
pp. 146801812096185
Author(s):  
Nicola Yeates ◽  
Rebecca Surender

This article presents key results from a comparative qualitative Social Policy study of nine African regional economic communities’ (RECs) regional health policies. The article asks to what extent has health been incorporated into RECs’ public policy functions and actions, and what similarities and differences are evident among the RECs. Utilising a World Health Organization (WHO) framework for conceptualising health systems, the research evidence routes the article’s arguments towards the following principal conclusions. First, the health sector is a key component of the public policy functions of most of the RECs. In these RECs, innovations in health sector organisation are notable; there is considerable regulatory, organisational, resourcing and programmatic diversity among the RECs alongside under-resourcing and fragmentation within each of them. Second, there are indications of important tangible benefits of regional cooperation and coordination in health, and growing interest by international donors in regional mechanisms through which to disburse health and -related Official Development Assistance (ODA). Third, content analysis of RECs’ regional health strategies suggests fairly minimal strategic ambitions as well as significant limitations of current approaches to advancing effective and progressive health reform. The lack of emphasis on universal health care and reliance on piecemeal donor funding are out of step with approaches and recommendations increasingly emphasising health systems development, sector-wide approaches (SWAPs) and primary health care as the bedrock of health services expansion. Overall, the health component of RECs’ development priorities is consistent with an instrumentalist social policy approach. The development of a more comprehensive sustainable world-regional health policy is unlikely to come from the African Continental Free-Trade Area, which lacks requisite social and health clauses to underpin ‘positive’ forms of regional integration.


1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lester ◽  
Antoon A Leenaars

A study in Canada of the accidental death rate from firearms, and of suicide and homicide rates by firearms and by all other methods, for the period 1975–85, indicated that the rates were positively associated with one another. The results were interpreted using a subcultural theory of violence, and the social policy implications of the results were discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (03) ◽  
pp. 615-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARLO KNOTZ

AbstractThere has been a clear trend toward greater conditionality and coercion in labour market and social policy in recent decades, a key part of which is tougher sanctions for unemployment benefit claimants who refuse offers of employment or otherwise fail to comply with their obligations. Our understanding of this trend and its determinants is so far built only on a corpus of small-N evidence, while systematic comparative large-N analyses are lacking. As a result, the broad patterns of policy change and their general political drivers remain underexplored. This paper fills this gap by examining unemployment benefit sanction reforms in 20 democracies between 1980 and 2012 using an original dataset. It is shown that governments introduce tougher sanctions in order to reconcile two competing pressures that arise during economic downturns: an increased need for social protection and reduced fiscal revenues. The findings, which are also applicable to other historical periods and policy areas, provide an impulse for future comparative large-N research on ‘demanding activation’ policies.


Author(s):  
Huck-ju Kwon

One of the biggest challenges for developing a new more productivist social policy approach has been the apparent absence of a new, post-neoliberal, economic model even after the global financial crisis. This chapter explores the social policy implications of the official ‘pragmatism’ of the new economic model with its ‘institutionalist’ emphases on nation states finding what works best in their own contexts rather than looking to the one size fits all approach of recent decades.


2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 1426-1447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Weigel

Family scholars have offered a host of formal definitions of family with little consensus. One reason scholars may have trouble reaching agreement is that rather than having a classical definition, there may be a variety of features and forms of family that people consider more typical than others. Three studies were undertaken to gain a better understanding of laypeople's concept of family. Study 1 indicates that people have central features and attributes that they ascribe to the concept of family. Study 2 likewise reveals that certain forms of family are considered more exemplary than others. Study 3 brings the elements of features and forms together and provides evidence of a possible underlying structure of family in which central features are matched with central forms. Research, measurement, and social policy implications for the study of family are discussed.


Author(s):  
Pau Palop-García

Abstract This chapter outlines the social protection policies that Spain has adopted to target Spanish nationals abroad. First, it describes the diaspora infrastructure and the key engagement policies developed in the last years by Spain. Subsequently, the chapter focuses on five social protection policies: unemployment, health care, pensions, family-related benefits, and economic hardship. The findings reveal that Spain has adopted a diaspora strategy that targets different emigrant groups such as exiles of the Civil War and early Francoism and their descendants, Spaniards that emigrated to other European countries during the 1950s and 1960s, and new emigrants that left the country due to the consequences of the financial crisis of 2008. Findings also show that, although Spain has developed a wide array of services to target its diverse diaspora, it still lacks a comprehensive scheme of social protection abroad. Moreover, the results suggest that Spain has adopted a subsidiary social policy strategy abroad that is triggered when the social protection offered by states of reception is lacking.


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