23Jun 2018
RC39 on Welfare States and Developing Societies
02:24 - By Asha Gupta
RC 39 was first recognized as a study group in 1992 and was granted the status of the Research Committee in 1999 under the Chairmanship of Prof. M. M. Sankhdher of the University of Delhi. It deals with the issues related to welfare states and developing societies within the broader discipline of Political Science with the objective of promoting research, scholarly interactions and debates on specific welfare states, both that have done well as well as those that have been challenged by internal and external developments in the wake of a more interconnected world due to globalization and technological innovations. RC 39 aims at developing a paradigm that could be applied to less resourceful countries of the Global South that need welfare provisions at a rapid speed on massive scale. Comparative studies on welfare systems can help these countries ‘learn’ and ‘unlearn’ from the experiences of the developed world.
RC 39 has always been encouraging research on comparing welfare systems in the developed and developing world. Though most of the developing countries have tried to follow the western model(s) despite vast differences in the socio-economic, political, historic-geographical contexts, we find neither convergence nor divergence. This RC has encouraged research focusing on systematic differences in welfare state in advanced economies and emerging ones, on the one hand, and among developing countries themselves, on the other, comprising of two-third of world’s population and half of total land. This majority world can no longer be ignored in the interest of global well-being.
The focus of the various papers and panels proposed under RC 39 so far has been on the emerging trends in welfare states and developing societies. Some of the papers have dealt with the latest trends in welfare reforms towards social assistance, social insurance and social pension. Some of the papers have dealt with the shift in paradigm from ‘welfare’ to ‘paternalism’ by making an indepth study of the values and public attitudes involved towards welfare beyond equality and social justice to ‘civilized politics’. Many papers have dealt with innovative ideas in some specific country or comparative framework. Some have even come out with alternatives to welfare states in current scenarios.
RC 39 welcomes well-researched papers related to unconventional social policies. In advanced economies, the focus of welfare research is mostly on conventional social policies, such as, pensions, healthcare, unemployment, insurance, etc. But in developing and emerging economies, we find lack of mature welfare states. Here the usual focus is on unconventional social policies, also known as ‘social policy by other means’, ‘ersatz social policy’ or ‘informal welfare’. These include diverse policy areas including agriculture, housing, education, transport, regulation and taxation. They all function to redistribute incomes, either cash or in kind, and are thus areas of social policymaking. India and China are good examples of this approach.
The RC also encourages research on the shift in paradigm from generosity to austerity in the wake of fiscal and overload crisis. The welfare state connoting the state of well-being, good fortune, happiness and prosperity of an individual or community through humanitarian and generous redistribution of resources has become unsustainable in its original form. It has become imperative to adopt the redistribution policies in the wake of ground realities owing to changing labour market and family structure in the wake of knowledge-based and technology-driven economies. It has become impossible for any welfare state and developing society to strike a balance between economic efficiency and social justice. The days of generosity seem to have gone in view of stringent austerity measures adopted by welfare states worldwide today. In future, added focus on individual responsibility through insurance policies cannot be ruled out.
RC 39 came into being to focus on the specific welfare needs and methods adopted by the welfare states and developing societies belonging to so called “third world”. Gradually it started accepting well-researched proposals from scholars belonging to the western world and advanced economies as well. It proposed four panels at the Montreal Congress in 2014 on – (1) Regional Diversity and Specificity of Welfare State: the Experiences of Developing Countries, (2) State-Market-Family: Welfare Relations in Developing Countries, (3) Welfare State in Developing Countries: Changing Perspectives, (4) Social Protection Systems and Social Policymaking in the LDC. This group brought together researchers from various countries and research on diversified countries, such as, India, China, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Latin America, OECD countries, etc. The papers presented included case studies, cross-case studies, qualitative comparative analysis, econometric analysis, etc.
RC 39 proposed five panels initially for the 24th IPSA World Congress to be held at Poznan in Poland from July 23-28, 2016. In view of change of venue from Turkey to Poland and a few drop outs, it had to merge them into three panels – (1) Comparing Welfare Systems to be Chaired by Prof. Stein Kuhnle, University of Bergen, Norway, (2) Emerging Trends in Welfare Reform to be Chaired by Dr Asha Gupta, University of Delhi, India and (3) Welfare State in Future: from Generosity to Austerity to be Chaired by Dr Natalia Satyro, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Office bearers of IPSA RC 39 elected at Montreal 2014:
Convener/Chair: Co-convener:
Dr. Asha Gupta, Dr. Natália Sátyro
Director, DHMI Federal University of Minas Gerais
University of Delhi, India Brazil, South America
ashagupta3452@gmail.com nsatyro@gmail.com
Papers presented at Poznan World Congress July 2016
Panel (39.01): Comparing Welfare Systems
Convenor: Dr. Asha Gupta ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Chair: Prof. Stein Kuhnle stein.kuhnle@isp.uib.no
Discussants: Prof. Philip Nel philip.nel@otago.ac.nz
Papers presented:
Dr. Asha Gupta, India ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Dr. Bamidele Seteolu folabiset@yahoo.com
Dr. Natalia Satyro, Brazil nsatyro@gmail.com
Panel (39.02): Emerging Trends in Welfare Reforms
Convenor: Dr. Asha Gupta ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Chair: Dr. Asha Gupta ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Discussants: Dr. Ines Calzada calzadaines@gmail.com
Papers presented:
Dr. William Brandon wilbrand@uncc.edu
Prof. Philip Nel philip.nel@otago.ac.nz
Mr. Chung-Wei Huang osbern@gmail.com
Prof. Yu-Tzung Chang yutzung@ntu.edu.tw
Panel (39.05): Welfare State in Future: From Generosity to Austerity
Convenor: Dr. Asha Gupta ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Chair: Dr. Natalia Satyro nsatyro@gmail.com
Discussants: Prof. Nirvia Ravena niravena@uol.com.br
Papers presented:
Mr. Freddy Alpalá freddy.alpala@correounivalle.edu.co
Dr. Sidney Jard Da Silva sidney.jard@ufabc.edu.br
Dr. Romina Miorelli r.miorelli@westminster.ac.uk
25th World Congress of IPSA, Brisbane, Australia from 21-25 July 2018
Panels propsed:
Panel (39.01): Comparing Welfare Systems
Convenor: Dr. Asha Gupta, India. ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Chair: Prof. Philip Nel, New Zealand. philip.nel@otago.ac.nz
Discussants: Prof. Sunil Kim, South Korea sunilkim@khu.ac.kr
This panel welcomes well-researched proposals focusing on comparison of welfare systems in the developing and the developed world, between two or more developed or developing countries. The modern welfare state is to be seen as the outcome of modernization, industrialization and democratization. It was a product of historical accretion, political compromise and economic necessity. With the advent of democracy, it became necessary to provide a minimum level of social security to all the citizens. The developing countries tried to follow the western model/models despite vast differences in their socio-economic, political, historic-geographical and cultural contexts. These countries are not only different from the first world and second world but also different from each another. That’s why they have altogether different social security systems in terms of funding, distribution, administration, implications, etc. We find neither convergence nor divergence with various models adopted by the advanced countries. This panel encourages panels and papers focusing on systematic differences in various welfare states and social security systems in developing countries comprising two-third of the world’s population and half of the total land. This majority world can no longer be ignored in the interest of global well-being.
Session
RC39 Welfare States and Developing Societies
Papers
Prof. Lenaura Lobato, Brazil lenauralobato@uol.com.br
Prof. Wojciech Nowiak, Poland wojciech.nowiak@amu.edu.pl
Dr. Fabio Gomes, Brazil fabio.gomes@camara.leg.br
Prof. Andre Laliberte, Canada andre.laliberte@uottawa.ca
Prof. Joachim Betz, Germany betz@giga-hamburg.de
Miss Joana Macedo, Brazil, jocsmacedo@gmail.com
Panel (39.02): Future Trends in Welfare Reforms
Convenor: Dr. Asha Gupta, India ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Chair: Dr. Asha Gupta, India ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Discussants: Dr. Fabio Gomes, Brazil fabio.gomes@camara.leg.br
It is yet to be seen whether we can move towards some collective form of social security or whether the financial crisis will be used by clever politicians towards permanently restructuring the welfare state. We may find paradigm shifts in public attitudes moving beyond egalitarianism and social justice to ‘civilized politics’. This panel seeks proposals dealing with the latest trends in welfare reforms towards social assistance, social insurance and social pension. We would welcome proposals especially dealing with shifts in paradigm from ‘welfare’ to’ paternalism’, making an indepth study of the values and public attitudes involved. We are looking forward to papers dealing with innovative ideas in some specific country or comparative framework. Some may even come out with alternatives to welfare state in current scenarios; others may give priority to merit in distribution of public benefits. Some others may support merit even if it implies maintaining the inequities created by market economy or globalization. For instance, recent reforms in certain developing countries have shown the dominance of self-interest on the part of clever politicians in favouring redistribution just to ensure their victory in forthcoming elections by proposing hybrid models of welfare aiming at general well being of the citizens.
Session
RC39 Welfare States and Developing Societies
Papers
Prof. Paolo Roberto Graziano, Italy paolo.graziano@unibocconi.it
Mr. Philippe Martin, Canada pmart083@uottawa.ca
Dr. Martin Mendoza-Botelho, USA mendozabotelhom@easternct.edu
- Varieties of Pension Systems and Old-Age Income Maintenance: A Comparative Approach Using Panel Data
Ms. Yunyoung Kim, South Korea
Ms. Kristyna Basna, Czech Republic kristyna.basna@soc.cas.cz
Panel (39.03): Social Welfare as a form of Social Justice: Can there be Trade Off between Economic Efficiency and Social Justice?
Convenor: Dr. Asha Gupta, India ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Chair: Dr. Martín Mendoza-Botelho, USA mendozabotelhom@easternct.edu
Discussants: Prof. Andre Laliberte, Canada andre.laliberte@uottawa.ca
The pursuit of social justice was central to social democratic politics in the era of Beveridge-plus-Keynes till the impact of destabilizing financial crisis was felt on the post-war welfare state. The Keynesian welfare state aimed at social equality through humanizing capitalist markets but the stagnant growth and fiscal constraints in the next decade depicted growing limits to redistributive capacities of the state, hence making it imperative to find out new ways and means to reconcile social justice with economic efficiency. In some countries, an attempt is made not to compensate the losers but reshape the markets. Under the universal basic income scheme, cash payment is made from public to private accounts as minimum allowance. The idea is to shift the role of the welfare state from remedial compensatory approach to pre-emptive role by investing in human and social capital to get the desired results. This panel welcomes papers on the need for trade off between social justice and economic efficiency, if any, types of efficiency, relationship between economy and social justice, measures to increase the efficiency of the nation as a whole, role of the society in promoting social well-being, politics of social investment, etc.
Session
RC39 Welfare States and Developing Societies
Papers
Dr. Woo Chang Kang, Australia. woochang.kang@anu.edu.au
Dr Asha Gupta, India. ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Dr. Bharat Chandra Rout, MHRD, India bharatrout@hotmail.com
Dr. Walter Carnota, Argentina wcarnota@hotmail.com
- The Impact of Social Investment Policies on Present Poverty: Lessons from Latin America
Ms. Gabriela De Carvalho, Brazil gabrieladecarvalho@icloud.com
Panel (39.04): Welfare State and Developing Society: From Generosity to Austerity
Convenor: Dr. Asha Gupta, India ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Chair: Prof. Lenaura Lobato, Brazil lenauralobato@uol.com.br
Discussants: Ms. Gabriela De Carvalho, Brazil gabrieladecarvalho@icloud.com
The Great Recession triggered by the financial crisis during 2007-08 worldwide has made the future of welfare state, as we know, uncertain. The days of generosity seem to have gone in view of the stringent austerity measures adopted even by advanced economics. Papers dealing with the effect of fiscal crisis on welfare systems, challenges before welfare states, need for social insurance, promotion of individual responsibility, combating with new problems, such as, rising inequalities, impact on labour market, recent welfare reforms, politics of welfare states, economic determinants, social insecurities, incremental and transformative changes are welcome. It is yet to be seen whether we can move towards some collective part towards social security or can this crisis be used by some smart politicians towards permanently restructuring the welfare state. We would welcome proposals on the impact of margins created in the wake of globalization in the sense of empirical borders and conceptual ones in the form of socio-cultural, economic, religious, ethnic, linguistic and/or gender-based distinctions paving the way for identity politics and political management.
Session
RC39 Welfare States and Developing Societies
Papers
Miss Ying Li, Brussels, Belgium ying.li@erasmusmundus-gem.eu
Mr. Mohammadreza Aram, Iran. mr.aram@chmail.ir
Prof. Kavous Seyed-Emami
Dr. Terzungwe Cornelius Wanan, Nigeria talk2terzungwe@yahoo.com
Dr. Shachi Chawla, India. shachichawla@yahoo.co.in
Prof. Sunil Kim, South Korea. sunilkim@khu.ac.kr
Miss Carla Tomazini, Brazil. carlatomazini@gmail.com
Panel (39.05): Welfare States and Developing Societies: A Peep Inside Some Specific Countries
Convenor: Dr. Asha Gupta, India ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Chair : Dr. Walter Carnota, Argentina wcarnota@hotmail.com
Discussants: Miss Joana Macedo, Brazil jocsmacedo@gmail.com
Session
RC39 Welfare States and Developing Societies
Papers:
- Emerging Trend of Rights Based Approach to Development in India: Opportunities and Constrains
Mrs. Preety Choudhari, India preetychoudhari2009@gmail.com
Dr. Phuc Nguyen, Australia phuc.nguyen@unimelb.edu.au
Prof. Mark Considine m.considine@unimelb.edu.au
Dr. Siobhan O'Sullivan siobhan.osullivan@unsw.edu.au
Mr. Stephen Treuke, Brazil stephantreuke@hotmail.de
Miss Vienne Wang, Taiwan viennewang624@gmail.com
Mr. Chung-Wei Huang osbern@gmail.com
Prof. Philip Nel, New Zealand philip.nel@otago.ac.nz
In view of some drop outs at the last minute, we had to merge the proposed five panels into three panels and, therefore, reshuffle some of the papers to make each session viable. We accommodated the paper 'Assessing the Impact of Labor Market Activation on Unequal Turnout across Advanced Industrial Democracies' by Dr. Hyunjin Oh, South Korea on his personal request as he was unable to present his paper at RC30 on July 24 due to prior engagement at his institute on the same date.We on the other hand were short of one paper in Panel RC39.03.
Final Programme at Brisbane from July 21-25, 2018
Panel (RC39.01): Comparing Welfare Systems
Convener: Dr. Asha Gupta ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Chair: Prof. Philip Nel philip.nel@otago.ac.nz
Co-chair: Dr. Walter Carnota wcarnota@hotmail.com
Discussants: Ms. Kristyna Basna kristyna.basna@soc.cas.cz
Session: RC39 Welfare States and Developing Societies
Papers
Author: Prof. Lenaura Lobato, Brazil lenauralobato@uol.com.br
Author: Prof. Wojciech Nowiak, Poland wojciech.nowiak@amu.edu.pl
Co-Author(s): Prof. Andrej Stelmach, Poland andrzej.stelmach@amu.edu.pl
Author: Dr. Fabio Gomes, Brazil fabio.gomes@camara.leg.br
Author: Prof. Andre Laliberte, Canada andre.laliberte@uottawa.ca
Author: Miss Joana Macedo, Brazil jocsmacedo@gmail.com
Panel (RC39.03): Social Welfare as a form of Social Justice: Can there be Trade Off between Economic Efficiency and Social Justice?
Convenor: Dr. Asha Gupta ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Chair: Dr. Asha Gupta ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Discussants: 1. Prof. Andre Laliberte andre.laliberte@uottawa.ca
2. Miss Joana Macedo jocsmacedo@gmail.com
Session: RC39 Welfare States and Developing Societies
Papers
Dr. Phuc Nguyen, Australia phuc.nguyen@unimelb.edu.au
Prof. Mark Considine,Australia m.considine@unimelb.edu.au
Dr. Siobhan O'Sullivan, Australia siobhan.osullivan@unsw.edu.au
Author: Dr. Walter Carnota, Argentina wcarnota@hotmail.com
Author: Ms. Gabriela De Carvalho, Brazil gabrieladecarvalho@icloud.com
Author: Prof. Philip Nel, New Zealand philip.nel@otago.ac.nz
Panel (RC39.04): Welfare State and Developing Society: From Generosity to Austerity
Convenor: Dr. Asha Gupta ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Chair: Prof. Lenaura Lobato lenauralobato@uol.com.br
Discussants: 1. Dr. Fabio Gomes fabio.gomes@camara.leg.br
2. Ms. Gabriela De Carvalho gabrieladecarvalho@icloud.com
Session: RC39 Welfare States and Developing Societies
Papers
Author: Miss Ying Li, Belgium ying.li@erasmusmundus-gem.eu
Author: Dr. Asha Gupta, India ashagupta3452@gmail.com
Author: Prof. Sunil Kim, South Korea sunilkim@khu.ac.kr
Author: Miss Vienne Wang, Taiwan viennewang624@gmail.com
Co-author(s): Mr. Chung-Wei Huang, Taiwan osbern@gmail.com
Author: Ms. Kristyna Basna, Czech Republic kristyna.basna@soc.cas.cz
Business Meeting
All IPSA RC39 members are welcome to attend the Business Meeting to be held on July 23, 2018 during 12:45 - 13:45 in Room No. Foyer / Door 1/4-T16.
Agenda
a) a brief report by the convener
b) call for papers for a book proposed
c) nomination for Secretary
d) any other matter with the consent of Convener