Implementing social justice within activation policies: the contribution of the capability approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-162
Author(s):  
Jean-Michel Bonvin ◽  
Luca Perrig
Keyword(s):  
Capability Approach ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Policy Cycle ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Street Level ◽  
French Economy ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
The Capability Approach

This chapter seeks to evaluate welfare-to-work policies in Switzerland through the lens of the theory of non-domination, using the theoretical tools developed by the capability approach and the French economy of conventions. Particular attention is paid to the normativity that is conveyed at each of the three stages of the policy-making process: its design by policy-makers and high civil servants, its implementation by street-level bureaucrats, and its reception by users and beneficiaries. The economy of conventions allows for a discussion of the multiple senses of justice that are embedded in the policy instruments going down the line of implementation, and the capability approach is fruitfully mobilised in assessing the various vectors of constraint and domination that may be imposed on each actor of the policy cycle. Domination is thus conceived as emerging from considerations of desert that are imposed on street-level bureaucrats and welfare recipients. Combining qualitative research and theoretical insights, this chapter suggests that allowing a greater margin for manoeuver to street-level bureaucrats may empower recipients by facilitating the convergence of interests and thus minimising the domination that a bureaucratic apparatus frequently entails.

scholarly journals Reclaiming Responsibility: The Case of Welfare-to-Work Policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (03) ◽  
pp. 529-546
Author(s):  
ANDREAS ERIKSEN
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Normative Foundation ◽  
Policy Strategies ◽  
The Sacrifice

AbstractWelfare-to-work programmes have a contested normative foundation. Critics argue that ‘citizen responsibility’ is being promoted to the sacrifice of more important social values, such as solidarity and fairness. This paper seeks to recapture what is valuable in citizen responsibility and to challenge the idea that the concept is intrinsically bound up with detrimental policy strategies. The paper develops a view of the responsible citizen as an appropriate addressee of moral expectations. This view highlights how addressing someone as responsible involves a presumption of reasonableness. Thereafter, the view is applied to conditions of street-level interaction, the design of policy instruments, and political discourse.

Administrative Justice in Street-Level Decision-Making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Raaphorst
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Professional Judgment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Discretionary Powers

Street-level bureaucrats’ discretionary powers play an increasingly important role in public service provision and law enforcement. In order to deal with societal challenges, legislators and policy-makers leave room for professional judgment by formulating open laws, rules, and policies. In making responsive decisions, however, that is, when treating different cases differently, street-level bureaucrats do not necessarily attach less value to treating similar cases alike. This chapter discusses how two notions of fairness—treating similar cases alike and treating dissimilar cases differently—are studied in street-level bureaucracy literature, and sheds light on the factors that influence how bureaucrats behave in this regard. Subsequently, it is explored how street-level bureaucrats could enhance equality of treatment when rules run out. The chapter concludes with an agenda for future research.

Top-Down Policy Implementation and Social Workers as Institutional Entrepreneurs: The Case of an Electronic Information System in Belgium

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1317-1332
Author(s):  
Joris De Corte ◽  
Jochen Devlieghere ◽  
Griet Roets ◽  
Rudi Roose
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Electronic Information ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurs ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Gradual Process ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Electronic Information System

Abstract In this article, we focus on how social workers use their agency when implementing top-down policy measures as street-level bureaucrats. We report on findings of a case study that was conducted in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium, about the top-down introduction of an electronic information system (IS) in the field of Child Welfare and Protection (CWP). Starting from insights derived from neo-institutional theory, we explore how social workers perform a role as so-called ‘institutional entrepreneurs’ by initiating critical reflections about policy rationales. In our contribution, we show that, despite social workers’ awareness of being embedded in their own field or service area, they use their field-level expertise and day-to-day experiences to disengage from this context as well. Besides unravelling the lack of coherence informing the IS’s initial ambitions of transparency and efficiency, they constantly (re)frame their views and explain their alternative ideas with the aim of convincing other social workers and managers. In this vein, we conclude by highlighting the importance of ‘distributed’ forms of agency that involve a gradual process, which is co-produced by social workers as street-level bureaucrats in close collaboration with service users, other professionals, other organisations and policy makers.

Competenza ad agire insieme e senso di iniziativa: il tirocinio per attraversare i confini tra studio e lavoro

2020 ◽  
pp. 93-102
Author(s):  
Fabrizio d'Aniello
Keyword(s):  
Professional Growth ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Knowledge Models ◽  
Internship Experience ◽  
Cultural Historical Activity ◽  
The University ◽  
And Training ◽  
The Capability Approach

The pre-eminent motivation behind this contribution lies in the intention to offer students of three-year degree course in education and training sciences and master's degree in pedagogical sciences of the University of Macerata a further support than those already existing, aimed at expanding the educational meaningfulness of the internship experience. The main criticality of such experience is connected with the difficulty in translating knowledge, models, ideas into appropriate activities. This notably refers to the conceptual and educational core of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and, consistently, to the skill to act. Therefore, after a deepening of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, followed by related pedagogical reflections based on the capability approach, the paper presents an operative proposal aimed at increasing young people's possibilities of action and supporting their personal and professional growth. With regard to this training proposal, the theoretical and methodological framework refers to the third generation cultural historical activity theory and to the tool of the boundary crossing laboratory, variant of the change laboratory

Partisipasi Masyarakat dalam Proses Kebijakan Daerah

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-177
Author(s):  
Abdullah Manshur
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Policy Evaluation ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Problem Situation ◽  
Policy Cycle ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Making Process

Public policy is a decision to deal with a particular problem situation, that identifies the objectives, principles, ways, and means to achieve them. The ability and understanding of policy makers in the policy-making process is very important for the realization of public policy of rapid, accurate and adequate. The product to suit the needs of the public policy, public participation in the policy process is needed in the policy cycle, from policy formulation to policy evaluation. This paper attempts to review the importance of community participation and other forms of public participation in the policy process, in particular, policy areas.

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