22. The impact of public policies

Author(s):  
Jørgen Goul Andersen

This chapter examines the effects of public policy. It first considers economic paradigms and approaches to welfare and documents the overriding historical changes in approaches to the economy, from Keynesian ideas of macro-economic steering to more market-oriented economic perspectives. It then explores the idea of institutional complementarity as expressed in the typologies of welfare regimes, varieties of capitalism, and flexicurity. It also looks at some of the empirical analyses of the effects of welfare policies and the tension between welfare and economic efficiency. Finally, it looks at policy feedback, path dependence, policy learning, social learning, policy transfer and policy diffusion, and policy convergence.

2020 ◽  
pp. 395-416
Author(s):  
Jørgen Goul Andersen

This chapter examines the effects of public policy. It first considers economic paradigms and approaches to welfare and documents the overriding historical changes in approaches to the economy, from Keynesian ideas of macro-economic steering to more market-oriented economic perspectives. It then explores the idea of institutional complementarity, as expressed in the typologies of welfare regimes, varieties of capitalism, and flexicurity. It also looks at some of the empirical analyses of the effects of welfare policies and the tension between welfare and economic efficiency. Finally, it looks at policy feedback, path dependence, policy learning, social learning, policy transfer and policy diffusion, and policy convergence.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Sirsch

AbstractThe article deals with the question whether an unconditional basic income (UBI) is part of an ideal liberal-egalitarian welfare regime. Analyzing UBI from an ideal-theoretical perspective requires a comparison of the justice performance of ideal welfare regimes instead of comparing isolated institutional designs. This holistic perspective allows for a more systematic consideration of issues like institutional complementarity. I compare three potential ideal welfare regimes from a liberal-egalitarian perspective of justice: An ideal social democratic regime, a mixed regime containing a moderate UBI and a maximal UBI regime where UBI replaces most of the welfare state. These regimes are evaluated with respect to three aspects of justice performance: the scope and neutrality of opportunities provided, institutional complementarities with a dynamic, globalized economy and the policy feedback effects on the political stability of liberal-egalitarian political coalitions. I conclude that the overall performance of a mixed regime is superior to the other regimes.


2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-392
Author(s):  
Sabine Beckmann

This paper examines the impact of political regulations on the gendered division of work between men and women. In particular it focuses on unpaid care and men and highlights, from a cross-national perspective, to what extent different policy frameworks constrain or facilitate the gendered division of unpaid care and men’s contribution and aspirations in relation to care. To address these concerns I firstly propose a model which describes the connection between welfare regimes, division of care, and gender relations on a theoretical basis. Secondly I analyse the development of welfare policies and policy outcomes in Sweden, France and Germany. I will particularly focus on the division of unpaid care between men and women and how men’s behaviour and attitudes have altered over recent decades (e.g. by taking parental leave). Another aspect which will be considered examines how the modifications in gender culture have been supported by social policy in the three countries. Finally I conclude that analysing the gendered division of unpaid care provides a further understanding of the gender order in Sweden, France and Germany. ZusammenfassungGegenstand dieses Beitrags ist die Frage nach den sozialpolitischen Steuerungsmöglichkeiten einer geschlechtergerechten Verteilung von Arbeit zwischen Männern und Frauen. Der besondere Fokus der Untersuchung liegt auf der unbezahlten Arbeit und Männern. Es wird also die Frage behandelt, ob und wie verschiedene Wohlfahrtsstaatssysteme die Verteilung der unbezahlten Arbeit beeinflussen und welche Rolle hierbei Männer spielen. Es wird zunächst ein Modell dargestellt, welches den Zusammenhang zwischen Wohlfahrtsregime, Arbeitsteilung und Geschlechterbeziehungen theoretisch umschreibt. Anhand dieses Modells wird die Entwicklung der auf Geschlechterleitbildern basierenden Wohlfahrtsstaatspolitik in Schweden, Frankreich und Deutschland analysiert und in Zusammenhang mit dem Wirken der Politik anhand der Verteilung von Care zwischen Männern und Frauen gebracht. Besondere Beachtung findet hierbei, inwieweit sich das Verhalten und die Interessen von Männern, beispielsweise hinsichtlich ihrer Bereitschaft Erziehungszeit zu übernehmen, verändert haben, und wie der entsprechende geschlechterkulturelle Wandel sozialpolitisch aufgegriffen und unterstützt wurde. Darüber hinaus zeigt der Beitrag, dass die Erweiterung von Länderanalysen um den Faktor der unbezahlten Arbeit eine genauere Analyse der länderspezifischen Geschlechterordnung ermöglichen kann.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artan Karini

Abstract Drawing on the policy-transfer literature, where processes such as Europeanization accentuate the role of policy networks as facilitators or constraints in the implementation of acquis, in addition to the familiar mechanism of “conditionality”, the principal objective of this article is to explore the challenges of policy learning toward administrative-capacity building and, more specifically, the role of what I refer to here as “donor-bureaucrat-contractor” networks in the Western Balkans. By employing a qualitative methodology consisting of forty semi-structured interviews and focus groups with policymakers, donor officers, civil-society experts and consultants in the region during the period of January 2011 to December 2016, a critical analysis of aid-supported policy learning via training as a conduit to administrative capacity-building reveals a series of context-specific dimensions, such as the informality of such networks, overreliance on local NGOs as “capacitybuilding” implementation partners and the ability of the context to affect donor behaviour - all ultimately contributing to the (non-) occurrence of policy transfer. Th e overarching conclusion this article draws is that potential answers to problems with aid-supported policy learning in the region may probably lie in the invisible workings of the aforementioned networks rather than solely in the official channels of communication between Brussels and regional governments. From a policymaking standpoint, this conclusion in itself may as well be construed as a recommendation to mobilize future research surrounding the impact of such networks on European Union (EU) accession processes in the region. Th is may encourage research organizations both in the EU and the region to (re) orient future endeavors towards this dimension of administrative capacity-building - a core requirement for EU accession - especially as the EU itself faces its own enlargement dilemmas following Brexit while the region faces threats of a potential revival of “old” ethnic conflicts, both affecting the progress of administrative reforms and prospects of EU accession.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Evren Tok ◽  
Duygu Sever

This study investigates the case of Qatar Singapore Regional Training Center for Public Administration.As a tool for this process of policy transfer, the article further evaluates the case of Singapore- Qatar Asia-Middle East Dialogue (AMED) Regional Training Centre for Public Administration (RTCPA) in Doha, Qatar, as a mechanism to foster this policy transferThe study suggests that this evaluation would be a fruitful example in revealing the strengths and weakness of such initiatives and can offer a scheme for insights regarding effective tools of policy learning.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147737082110006
Author(s):  
José A. Brandariz

In what might be called the ‘austerity-driven hypothesis’, a consistent strand of literature has sought to explain the prison downsizing witnessed in many jurisdictions of the global north over the past decade by referring to the financial crisis of the late 2000s to early 2010s and its effects in terms of public spending cuts. Since this economic phase is essentially over, whereas the (moderate) decarceration turn is still ongoing, there are good reasons to challenge this hypothesis. This article delves into the non-economic forces that are fostering a prison population decline that, 10 years on, is becoming the new ‘penal normal’. The article thereby aims to spark a dialogue not only with the scholarship exploring the prison downsizing but also with certain theoretical frameworks that have played a key role in examining the punitive turn era. Additionally, the article contributes to the conversation on the need to reframe materialist readings on penality in a ‘non-reductionist’ fashion. By revisiting heterodox theses and scrutinizing the impact of recent penal changes on traditional materialist accounts, the article joins the collective endeavour seeking to update political economic perspectives on punishment and the penal field.


2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Carbone

ABSTRACTIt is commonly assumed that the advent of democracy tends to bring about social welfare improvements. Few studies, however, have examined empirically the impact of third-wave democratisation processes on social policies in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Through a diachronic comparison, this paper examines the effects of Ghana's democratisation process on the evolution of its health policy. It shows that the emergence of democratic competition played an important role in the recent adoption of a crucial health reform. A policy feedback effect on politics and a process of international policy diffusion were additional but secondary factors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (48) ◽  
pp. 181-186
Author(s):  
H. I. Rybak ◽  

The peculiarities of innovative development in the interaction of economic and social components of the external and internal environment are studied on the basis of a complementary approach, namely the relationship between economic efficiency and social justice, their negative and positive impact on the quality of life and socio-economic development opportunities. As for complementary development, the idea of justice, which currently is an important factor in achieving European living standards and guaranteeing social-economic rights of a person and citizen, plays an important role in reforming all the spheres of public life, democratization of Ukrainian society, and providing Ukraine's integration into the European political and legal space. Complementarity research is becoming relevant at the present stage of global economic development, when the market situation is characterized by a fairly high rate of transformation, and innovation becomes the main competitive factor. The author considers the emergence of the complementarity concept in research works made in various areas (e.g., the concept of institutional complementarity), and also highlights the features of compensatory and supplemental complementarity. Unconditional following global examples without taking into account the state of real socio-economic and institutional structures in a certain state will not give a favourable result from implementing reforms and introducing innovations due to the lack of complementary connections. Therefore, the conditions for the emergence of new institutional changes and the impact of "social elevators" on social development in the long run are analyzed. The presence of complex unresolved problems in the development of our state actualizes the study of the complementary context of innovative development, aimed at rethinking the role of social justice in solving major economic problems. Due to a complementary approach, the economic system will be able to increase such features as adaptability and continuity by developing mechanisms of self-preservation, and will acquire systematic innovative development with a ripple effect.


2000 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Bellin

Many classic works of political economy have identified capital and labor as the champions of democratization during the first wave of transition. By contrast, this article argues for the contingent nature of capital and labor's support for democracy, especially in the context of late development. The article offers a theory of democratic contingency, proposing that a few variables, namely, state dependence, aristocratic privilege, and social fear account for much of the variation found in class support for democratization both across and within cases. Conditions associated with late development make capital and labor especially prone to diffidence about democratization. But such diffidence is subject to change, especially under the impact of international economic integration, poverty-reducing social welfare policies, and economic growth that is widely shared. Case material from Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, Zambia, Brazil, Tunisia and other countries is offered as evidence.


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