Suchergebnisse

A substantial body of theory now exists on economically sound and politically smart ways of jump-starting progress in poor developing countries. At several levels, however, the practice is lagging behind the theory, meaning there is much to learn from any new experiences suggesting precisely how to advance this agenda. This paper reports some early successes from a UK Department for International Development-funded programme in Nepal, the Economic Policy Incubator. Although this programme is at a relatively early stage, it has some highly transferable features and has already generated valuable lessons. (.)

This Supplement in the International Journal of Social Welfare presents the main findings of a United Nations Research Institute for Social Development research project on social policy in late industrializers, covering countries in East Asia, Latin America, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and sub‐Saharan Africa, as well as the Nordic countries. One of the findings from the research is that social policy has been used as an integral part of economic development in successful late‐industrializing countries. In the MENA region and sub‐Saharan Africa, however, social policy was tried for too short a period to be properly implemented and tested. East Asian and Latin American countries started with a narrow‐based social policy, but social policy in East Asia was extended to foster social solidarity, bringing people into the mainstream of social change. Such findings suggest that social policy is multifunctional, not only in terms of social protection but also economic development and democratic governance.

THE AUTHOR EXAMINES THE MODEL OF SOCIAL LEARNING OFTEN BELIEVED TO CONFIRM THE AUTONOMY OF THE STATE FROM SOCIAL PRESSURES, TESTS IT AGAINST RECENT CASES OF CHANGE IN BRITISH ECONOMIC POLICIES, AND OFFERS A FULLER ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF IDEAS IN POLICY MAKING, BASED ON THE CONCEPT OF POLICY PARADIGMS. A CONVENTIONAL MODEL OF SOCIAL LEARNING IS FOUND TO FIT SOME TYPES OF CHANGES IN POLICY BUT NOT THE MOVEMENT FROM KEYNESIAN TO MONETARIST MODES OF POLICY MAKING. IN CASES OF PARADIGM SHIFT, POLICY RESPONDS TO A WIDER SOCIAL DEBATE BOUND UP WITH ELECTORAL COMPETITION THAT DEMANDS A REFORMULATION OF TRADITIONAL CONCEPTIONS OF STATE-SOCIETY RELATIONS.