East Asian Welfare Regimes: Testing the Hypothesis of the Developmental Welfare State

Following the three welfare regimes constructed by Esping‐Andersen, many scholars have addressed the question of whether there may be a further type of regime, differing from the categories of liberal, conservative and social democratic, pertaining to other parts of the world. Discussion has centred largely on East Asia and, in particular, on the notion of the developmental/productivist welfare regime. Yet these discussions have been based more on conceptual classification than empirical analysis. This article attempts to fill in the gap, with reference to the developmental characteristics of Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. A set of 15 indicators is developed for the factor and cluster analysis of 20 countries, based on data from the 1980s and 1990s. The results indicate the existence of a new group, consisting of Taiwan and South Korea, which is distinct from Esping‐Andersen's three regimes – unlike Japan, which remains a composite of various regime types. Regime characteristics peculiar to the cases of Taiwan and South Korea include: low/medium social security expenditure, high social investment, more extensive gender discrimination in salary, medium/high welfare stratification, a high non‐coverage rate for pensions, high individual welfare loading, and high family welfare responsibility. When compared with Esping‐Andersen's three regimes, the East Asian developmental regime shows similarity with his conservative model, in respect of welfare stratification, while the non‐coverage of welfare entitlements is similar to his liberal model. There is virtually no evidence of any similarity between the developmental welfare regime and Esping‐Andersen's social democratic regime type.     

Regime-specific impact of financial reforms on economic growth in Pakistan

This study uses and proposes a new methodological approach to construct a financial liberalization index on the basis of the dynamic factor model technique. The resulting index is used to investigate the impact of the financial sector reforms in Pakistan on economic growth. Using the Markov regime-switching model over the period 1972–2015, the empirical results showed that the examined relationship is nonlinear, nonmonotonic, state-dependent, and better described by the two-state Markov switching model characterized by the high growth regime and low growth regime. Despite the positive impact of financial liberalization on economic growth in both the high and low growth regimes, financial liberalization relatively strongly affects real GDP growth in the high growth regime. The results further demonstrate that transition probabilities establish an inordinate episode of the low growth regime. Furthermore, the high growth regime is relatively short-lived than the low growth regime. Among the other variables, trade openness and physical capital stock have a positive impact on economic growth, while labor force and government expenditure exert a negative effect on economic growth. Several economic policies are proposed and discussed for better functioning of financial sector development in Pakistan.     

Beyond the dollar

The international reserve regime based mainly on the US dollar has served the world well for decades, but it faces an uncertain future as the economic hegemony of the United States is increasingly challenged by the emergence of new economic powers. The regime is flawed fundamentally, moreover, because additions to the supply of the main reserve asset require the United States to run balance-of-payments deficits, which tend to undermine confidence in the dollar. This paper proposes a transformation of the reserve regime that would cause Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) issued by the International Monetary Fund to become the main reserve asset. An orderly transition would be achieved by creating a Substitution Account into which official holders of dollars could deposit them in exchange for SDRs.     

Social work programmes in the social democratic welfare regime

In this article we examine the emergence of social worker training in the Nordic countries and discuss the possible effects that the social democratic welfare regime has had on such training. We also discuss the development in recent decades of the academisation of the training and the establishment of social work as a subject of research and teaching. The early history of social worker education is based on archival material, national inquiries and secondary sources. Our presentation of the recent history of social work education is based on the responses to a questionnaire sent to teachers of social work in 33 Nordic social work programmes, and on a survey of course syllabi and prospectuses. It is also based on the reading lists for the social work courses in these programmes.     

Social work programmes in the social democratic welfare regime

In this article we examine the emergence of social worker training in the Nordic countries and discuss the possible effects that the social democratic welfare regime has had on such training. We also discuss the development in recent decades of the academisation of the training and the establishment of social work as a subject of research and teaching. The early history of social worker education is based on archival material, national inquiries and secondary sources. Our presentation of the recent history of social work education is based on the responses to a questionnaire sent to teachers of social work in 33 Nordic social work programmes, and on a survey of course syllabi and prospectuses. It is also based on the reading lists for the social work courses in these programmes.     

Mass Protests in the Context of the Russian Power Regime

The mass protests in Russia in late 2011 and early 2012 can be seen as a reaction to the prevalence of a special model of power relationships—the Russian power regime. This article discusses scenarios in which the mass protests are a first step toward the transition from the equilibrium of the Russian power regime to the equilibrium of a democratic regime, with an emphasis on the reform of municipal and regional governance and of university life.     

十六国时期河东争夺战

十六国时期,河东地区具有十分重要的战略地位。长安、邺城分别是当时东西政权的首选都城,居于长安的政权唯有保有河东,才能稳居关中,维持其统治,否则会有亡国之患;长安政权若击破居于邺城的政权,必须取道河东。在十六国时期河东争夺战中,河东地区的大族的向背对河东的归属产生了一定的影响。     

Neoliberal subjectivities and the behavioural focus on income management

This paper specifically addresses the behavioural focus of the income management regime, arguing that through its use of market logic and the reduction of social and political complexity, the regime is a technology of neoliberal governmentality. This paper finds that income management, whether compulsory or voluntary, blanket or Community based, regards the individual as the site of dysfunction, depoliticising and dehumanising broader socio economic historical factors in the process. Further, the focus on behavioural change creates the illusion that the market logic of income management will produce responsible citizens, which in turn obscures the possibility of redressing poverty and inequality.     

通过运动进行治理：乡镇基层政权的治理策略——对中国中部地区麦乡“植树造林”中心工作的个案研究

摘要：乡镇基层政权的运作是一个备受学术界关注的领域。本文将依据中国中部地区麦乡的田野调查资料，以麦乡“植树造林”的事件为分析 “文本”，分析在压力型体制与后税费时期，在乡镇财政紧缩的境况下，麦乡通过将常规性工作升级为中心工作，进而通过运动的方式进行中心工作的实践，以完成所规划的任务。这种“行政吸纳运动”的治理方式事实上是基层政权在专制性权力丧失、基础性权力又尚未确立、行政运作缺乏充沛资源的情景之下，通过对传统的“运动”资源加以简化利用而做出的权益性的行为选择，而这一治理实践本身却收效甚微。     

Welfare regime change – or lack of change – in unemployment compensation

Drawing on theoretical accounts of institutional change, this study explored the politics of welfare regime transformation in regard to Turkey's unemployment compensation system. By using the institutionalist approach, the study shows that the process of welfare regime change was one of “institutional layering” of unemployment insurance (UI) over severance pay. Also, the study demonstrates that the economic bureaucracy played a key role in pushing the establishment of UI (state‐centric approach) in contrast to the class‐based organizations that focused their struggles on the severance pay scheme (power‐resource perspective). However, the economic bureaucracy preferred a rudimentary UI design, which prevented UI from undermining the vested interests behind the severance pay scheme. Furthermore, subsequent attempts at the reformation of the severance pay scheme were not successful because the social welfare bureaucracy lacked the capacity to develop a policy alternative to resolve the stalemate between the societal actors. Lastly, the study used the successful severance pay reform experiences of South Korea and Austria to locate the Turkish case within a broader comparative framework.     

论东盟区域安全机制的形成与发展

东盟区域安全机制的形成与发展经历了一个过程。1967年东盟的成立为其安全机制的形成与发展奠定了组织基础。1976年《东南亚友好合作条约》的签署标志着东盟区域安全机制的形成。此后,该机制便处于不断的发展演变中。东盟区域安全机制为什么会得到创设和维持？它又是怎样随着时间演变而发展变化的？试从国际机制的功能理论视角来对这一过程加以概括分析。     

From Defamilialization to Degenderization: Toward a New Welfare Typology1

This article discusses the debate on gendering welfare states. It criticizes typologies based on the differentiation between degrees of familialization and defamilialization and proposes a new typology based on the notion of genderization and degenderization. It also argues against the notion of regime types, which includes outputs in their classification systems. Instead it argues that typologies should concentrate on policies to make it possible for researchers and policymakers to analyze the influence of different types of policies on different societies. It is important to know whether similar policies would lead to different outcomes under different socio‐economic or cultural conditions. The article goes on to show how one could analyze family policies based on a typology based on genderization and degenderization.     

Environmental protection and the Hungarian transition

Drawing upon the agenda-building literature, I examine how and why the issue of environmental protection came to be on the political agenda in Hungary, in both the Communist and post-Communist regimes. If we assume that regime type matters, there should be differences with regard to how and why the environment was placed on the institutional (formal) agenda in the Communist and post-Communist governments. The agenda-setting literature is, however, based on stable political systems rather than systems in transition. Thus, the agenda-building process in the two regime types may not be as different as expected. This leads to the second research question: How does the democratic transition process impact agenda-building processes in the environmental issue area?     

Monetary transmission: Are emerging market and low-income countries different?

We use the Christensen, Diebold, and Rudebusch (2011) representation of the yield curve to test the functioning of the interest rate transmission mechanism along the yield curve based on government paper in advanced, emerging market, and low-income countries. We find a robust link from the policy and short-term interbank rates to the longer-term bond yields in all countries. Two policy implications emerge. First, the presence of well-developed secondary markets does not seem to affect transmission of short term rates along the yield curve. Second, the strength of the transmission mechanism seems to be affected by the choice of the monetary regime and the level of development: advanced countries with a credible inflation targeting regime seem to have better-behaved yield curves than the countries with other monetary regimes.     

Income inequality,welfare regimes and aggregate health: Review of reviews

Wide income inequality in a society has been associated with worse aggregate health. Regarding the relationship, often termed as ‘the Wilkinson Hypothesis’, a number of empirical findings and related systematic reviews have reached inconsistent conclusions. In addition, the Scandinavian welfare regime is expected to have better aggregate health indicators in comparison with the other welfare regimes. The expectation is largely based on the Wilkinson Hypothesis because the regime has relatively narrow income inequalities. Again, related empirical findings and systematic reviews have produced inconsistent conclusions. This article reports on two rounds of ‘review of reviews’ (RR) over six previous (systematic) review articles. The first round of RR found that the review articles reached divergent conclusions. The second round of RR over another set of three review articles also demonstrated that their conclusions did not reach a consensus. Neither the hypothesised Scandinavia's good health nor the Wilkinson Hypothesis was given solid empirical backing.     

Lithuania's children's policy in the period of transition

The article investigates the welfare regime of the free Lithuanian Republic from the perspective of children's policy. The main principles of the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – child protection, child provision and child participation – serve as indicators for the level of child orientation. The article analyses legal and institutional issues related to the implementation of the Convention in Lithuania in the first decade of Independence 1990–2001. Furthermore, it compares Lithuanian policy with the three welfare regimes identified by Esping-Andersen. Our results indicate that Lithuanian policy shows a low level of child orientation and that the Lithuanian welfare regime does not correspond to any of the welfare regimes in Esping-Andersen's typology. Lithuania still shows traits from the former Soviet regime. The new liberal extreme market orientation is not modified by social support institutions, and is combined with conservative ideologies on women and family.     

Policy transfer from the UN to ASEAN: the case of trafficking in persons

This article examines the policy transfer from the United Nations (UN) to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the case of trafficking in persons (TIP). It presents pioneering empirical research that analyzes the processes and mechanisms of policy transfer between the UN and a regional organization. Institutional collective action and regime complex theories in international relations are used to complement the existing state-centric policy transfer framework. We argue that the UN-ASEAN policy transfer in TIP is characterized by a two-step process, starting with transfer from the UN to the ASEAN member states, followed by synthesis at the regional level. The consensus-based decision-making approach in ASEAN restricts transfer outcomes to a common low base of national preferences, which is the lowest common denominator. The ability of stakeholders in the TIP field to steer lesson drawing, emulation and coercive transfer at both the national and regional levels allows them to influence the lowest common denominator. At the same time, policy transfer to ASEAN is shaped by “forum-shopping” by the ASEAN member states and other stakeholders within the TIP regime complex, based on the comparative advantage between ASEAN and other cooperation mechanisms in solving TIP-related issues.     

抗日根据地乡村政权建设的历史经验

抗日根据地的乡村政权建设是民主革命时期我国政权建设的成功范例,积累了丰富的经验,主要是:第一,高度关注民生问题,并通过实行一系列以解决民生问题为核心的措施,形成民众对党和政府的认同。第二,始终将推行民主选举作为建设乡村政权的基础工作,通过开展细致而充分的宣传动员工作和实行普遍、直接、平等、无记名投票原则,让民众直接参加选举,行使当家作主的权力。第三,把发动和组织民众放在重要位置,将民众组织起来,创造乡村政权的组织基础。第四,把加强民众直接监督置于重要地位,约束乡村干部行为。     

The Contributions of the Health Decommodification Typologies to the Study of the East Asian Welfare Regime

Since Esping‐Andersen presented the three worlds of welfare typology thesis, the study of the classification of welfare regimes has been dominated by his work and the debates surrounding it. This article is concerned with two important responses to his work. The first response is the development of welfare typologies based on the principle of decommodification. The second response is the concern that East Asian countries are underrepresented in the 18 members of the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) studied by Esping‐Andersen. As a result, there are calls for expanding the scope of the studies on the classification of welfare regimes to those in East Asia. This article makes contributions to these two responses by presenting two analytical tasks. The first task is to develop two health decommodification typologies based on two different methods (cluster analysis and Esping‐Andersen's index‐based regime construction). Both of them cover the 18 OECD members studied by Esping‐Andersen and four tiger economies (Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore). The second task is to demonstrate that the two health decommodification typologies provide important information for the debate on the existence of two essential preconditions for the development of an all‐encompassing East Asian welfare regime, namely the existence of significant differences in the welfare systems between the East Asian countries and the 18 OECD countries studied by Esping‐Andersen (1990 ) and the existence of significant similarities in the welfare systems between East Asian countries.     

传扬文化——改朝换代时仕宦文人的另一种选择

仕宦文人,是中国封建政权的重要组成部分,封建政权的更替,自然就成了仕宦文人的化学试纸,或者一捧上天,或者踩入地底。后来的评判者,多从政治道德而推及个人人品,很少把仕宦文人的生命和文化传承联系起来进行考量。本文通过史实说明,仕宦文人忍辱惜命,对传扬文化更为重要。