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AbstractIn this article, we look at the issue of convergence in social policymaking within EU member‐states. Proponents of the convergence thesis argue that since European welfare states are facing similar socioeconomic challenges, they are likely to develop common response strategies. Our analysis, based on a survey carried out among policymakers, looks at political debates on the future of social protection in four EU member states. The main focus is on the different institutional structures which characterise European welfare states, and on their impact on political debates in terms of coalition formation. The analysis shows that the influence of socio‐economic change on political debates is important, but that it is significantly mediated by the different institutional arrangements which distinguish European welfare states. We conclude that the presence of common socio‐economic problems does not necessarily imply a convergence in policy‐making.

There is still some lack of clarity regarding the question of what the Capability Approach actually is, how it should be interpreted and operationalised, and not least whether it is an adequate and useful concept for the analysis of social policy in Europe. Against the backdrop of these questions, this paper looks at recent contributions which use the Capability Approach (CA) for analysing social policy. This leads me to argue that the most interesting applications of the CA may not lie in policy evaluation in the classical sense, but rather in an analysis of policy outputs through the lens of concepts such as individualisation and diversity. In this sense, the CA may serve as normative foundation for addressing the dependent variable problem in comparative welfare regime research. In order to play this role, however, CA-applications will need to clearly differentiate between the potential and implications of the CA itself, and various external normative reference points which should not be identified with the CA.

Given that more people 'permanently' migrate today than in the past, migration has taken on a heightened profile internationally. Such mobility raises fundamental social policy questions of entitlement and (re)negotiation of caregiving obligations and arrangements. Social policy has traditionally approached problems and developed responses within the confines of the nation‐state and faces difficulties in recognising and addressing issues arising from mobility. Migration contributes to family being 'stretched' beyond national boundaries to become dispersed, global or transnational families. This article focuses attention on one dimension of transnational living – older people as members of transnational families. The combination of increasing population mobility and the elongation of new post‐retirement life‐stages is resulting in a set of pressing social policy issues. It explores immigration, pension eligibility and portability, and social services and caregiving issues. To illustrate these issues the article draws on New Zealand's diverse transnational family forms and experience.

Der Autor erörtert in seinem Diskussionsbeitrag aktuelle Fragen und Konflikte der gegenwärtigen Sozialpolitik. Da die finanziellen Grenzen des Sozialstaats immer sichtbarer werden, stellt sich vor allem die Frage nach seiner Legitimation und seiner Zukunftsfähigkeit. Zur Bewältigung der heutigen Probleme des Sozialstaats können bewährte Strategien und historisch überholte Idealtypen nicht mehr herangezogen werden, und die vom 'Normalarbeitsverhältnis' abweichenden Formen der Arbeit - wie Teilzeitarbeit, Scheinselbständigkeit oder ehrenamtliches Engagement der Bürger - gewinnen immer mehr an Bedeutung und gefährden die traditionellen Grundlagen und Instrumente der sozialen Sicherung. Auf der Metaebene sind neue Visionen und Leitbilder gefragt und für die Modellierung einer modernen Sozialpolitik sollten alternative Ansätze, z.B. aus der Implementationsforschung oder des politischen Tauschgeschäfts ('bargaining'), entwickelt werden. Die zukünftige Sozialpolitik sollte als Aufgabe für politische Kommunikation und Aushandlungsprozesse genutzt werden, in welcher neben einem Rückzug des Staates die Eigenverantwortung des Einzelnen stärker in den Mittelpunkt gerückt wird. (ICI)

The Strathclyde experience makes it clear that local government should be precise about the objectives it wishes to pursue, the likelihood of achieving these, the methods it must adopt, and the best way of monitoring progress and effectiveness. Strathclyde Region has laid the base for a much more efficient delivery of services and resources relating to its particular needs, this information being derived from local data collection and analysis and providing essential underpinning to policy initiatives on issues (e.g. services to the unemployed, one‐parent families). Regional deprivation strategy has increased political awareness of Regional employees, and the 1983 strategy emphasises community development. Through a greater commitment by Regional staff to act positively in reducing the impact of urban deprivation, the effect of Regional policy on the lives of individuals has been significant.

This article compares and contrasts two important phases of social incorporation in Brazil: (i) an early punctuated period that integrated formal sector workers and civil servants under President Getulio Vargas (1930-1945) and (ii) a later more extended sequence that strived to include the informal sector poor, beginning with the military regime (1964-1985), gaining momentum with the 1988 Brazilian Constitution and the presidency of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2002), and continuing under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010). It captures the shift from a welfare state based on corporatist principles to one that comes closer to basic universalism. Whereas Vargas's incorporation project addressed workers as producers, later governments incorporated the informal poor as beneficiaries of public policy programs - including income support policies - in a more individualist and liberal fashion. Adapted from the source document.

Uruguay's social policy response to Covid-19 built on a strong social protection system and a favorable social situation that existed before the pandemic arrived. The country's favorable position in the region enabled the government to gradually reformulate key existing social policies to cover a broad proportion of the population. The newly installed government's response occurred within the country's structurally divided social protection architecture, which covers both formal workers and families not covered by the social security system. However, efforts in the two parts of the system have not been equally effective and there remains a portion of the population not covered by any of these social protection policies.