Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- The broadening and deepening of welfare conditionality -- Conditionality, austerity and public opinion -- Conditionality and social control -- This book -- 2 The context for conditionality -- Targeting -- Generosity -- Entitlement -- Concluding comments -- 3 The techniques of conditionality -- Behavioural requirements -- Monitoring and verification -- Sanctions -- Incentives -- Concluding comments -- 4 The subjects of conditionality -- Unemployed people -- Tackling an underclass? The Anglosphere debate -- A need to activate? The European debate -- Targeting young people -- Expanding the reach to sick and disabled people -- Low-income families with children -- Social tenants -- Homeless people -- Enforcement -- Conditionality and coercion -- Persuasion -- Concluding comments -- 5 The impacts of conditionality -- Behavioural assumptions -- The challenge from behavioural economics -- More fundamental challenges -- Finding a middle ground -- Effectiveness -- Unintended, spill-over and scar effects -- Costs -- Alternatives -- Concluding comments -- 6 The ethics of conditionality -- Conditionality as an ethical 'problem' -- Rights -- Utilitarianism -- Contractualism -- Communitarianism -- Paternalism -- Social justice -- Concluding comments -- 7 Conclusions -- Putting conditionality in the spotlight -- Putting conditionality to the test -- Putting conditionality in context -- Bibliography -- Index

Welfare conditionality has become an idea of global significance in recent years. A 'hot topic' in North America, Australia, and across Europe, it has been linked to austerity politics, and the rise of foodbanks and destitution. In the Global South, where publicly funded welfare protection systems are often absent, conditional approaches have become a key tool employed by organisations pursuing human development goals. The essence of welfare conditionality lies in requirements for people to behave in prescribed ways in order to access cash benefits or other welfare support. These conditions are typically enforced through benefit 'sanctions' of various kinds, reflecting a new vision of 'welfare', focused more on promoting 'pro-social' behaviour than on protecting people against classic 'social risks' like unemployment. This new book in Routledge's Key Ideas series charts the rise of behavioural conditionality in welfare systems across the globe, its appeal to politicians of Right and Left, and its application to a growing range of social problems. Crucially it explores why, in the context of widespread use of conditional approaches as well as apparently strong public support, both the efficacy and the ethics of welfare conditionality remain so controversial. As such, Welfare Conditionality is essential reading for students, researchers, and commentators in social and public policy, as well as those designing and implementing welfare policies. --

Political conditionality involves the linking of development aid to certain standards of observance of human rights and (liberal) democracy in recipient countries. Although this may seem to be an innocent policy, it has the potential to bring about a dramatic change in the basic principles of the international system: putting human rights first means putting respect for individuals and rights before respect for the sovereignty of states