Transformation: Canadian Social Policy Since 1985

This paper sets out to document and explain the major structural changes which have taken place in Canada's social security system since the mid-1980s. Most major programs have been cut back one way or another, in response to a combination of pressures. Foremost amongst these has been the commitment to reduce federal and provincial government deficits. In addition there have been the consequences of high unemployment and increasing job insecurity, demographic and social changes, and "tax fatigue" on the part of the public. The paper documents major recent changes of social policy both in general—with regard to the changed approach evident at federal level and its effect on social transfers to the provinces—and in respect of key programs, including unemployment/employment insurance, old age pensions/the Canada Pension Plan, and child benefits. The paper next identifies "currents and undercurrents" common to all of the developments commented on: the decline of universality, the practice of "social policy-making by stealth", the evidence of the contemporary Canadian public's "collective ambivalence and loss of memory" in respect of the major, historic social programs. It concludes by urging the case for social reinvestment in genuinely sustainable social policy, in the currently more favourable fiscal climate.     

Social Policy in Greece: Rhetoric versus Reform

This paper reviews the major social policy developments in Greece during the 1980s and 1990s, focusing on social security, health and employment policies. It argues that the concept of social policy and the practice of politics have been distorted in this country. Social policy reflects the legacy of a heavily politicized and centralized policy‐making system, an impoverished administrative infrastructure and poorly developed social services. Its emergence is characterized by the pursuit of late and ineffective policies. It lacks continuity, planning and coordination, being oriented towards short‐term political expediency. It is largely insurance‐based, reproducing huge inequalities and institutional arrangements which are behind the times. It provides mainly cash benefits, low‐quality but rather expensive health services and marginal social welfare protection. Moreover, the lack of a minimum income safety net confirms the country's weak culture of universalism and social citizenship. By implication, complex policy and interlocking interest linkages have tarnished the “system” with a reputation for strong resistance to progressive change. At the same time, sources of change such as globalization, demographic developments, new household and family/gender patterns, unstable economic growth, fiscal imperatives, programme maturation, as well as persisting unemployment, changing labour markets and rising health care costs, have produced mounting pressures for welfare reform.     

Varieties of Liberalism: Canadian Social Policy from the 'Golden Age' to the Present

The dominant welfare regimes approach, like the historical-institutionalism on which it draws, predicts path-dependent responses to contemporary challenges. According to this, Canada's social policy regime clearly belongs to the (mainly Anglo-American) 'liberal' family, where markets and families retain a key role, supplemented by modest state supports. Yet, as some have recognized, there are important differences among liberal regimes and within a particular welfare regime over time. There are, in other words, 'varieties of liberalism'. This article argues, moreover, that in the contemporary period Canadian welfare reform has been characterized by warring principles for redesign. While some have sought to deepen the postwar social project, the main trends have been neo-liberal restructuring and, more recently, policies inspired by 'inclusive liberalism', though less deeply than under Blair's government in the UK. The continued existence of such alternatives suggests the need for a more nuanced conception of path-dependent change, consistent with recent revisionist trends in historical-institutionalism.     

Judaism and Social Policy

The article deals with the connection between Judaism on the one hand and social policy and the development of social services on the other. The article deals with those aspects of Judaism that are specifically related to the foundations of social policy: the nature of interpersonal relationships as well as the relationship between society as an all-encompassing framework and the individual who is a part of that framework.     

社会政策与社会工作的议题

社会政策与社会工作的研究共同点在于其目的是解决社会问题,从而改善和提高社会福利,一般的研究基于中国背景,更注重实务性;而本文则基于国外发展状况,旨在从理论层面探析影响二者发展的因素。     

社会工作职业化与社会政策

社会工作职业化目前在中国存在社会认同度不高、专业服务组织机构欠缺、社会工作职业制度不健全、高校人才培养与实际部门不衔接以及本土化的社会工作理论亟待建立等问题。社会政策作为支持弱势群体、解决社会问题、促进社会公正的制度化模式,从政府的政策性角色和社会立法这两个维度出发来解决社会工作职业化过程中面临的问题,在推进社会工作职业化进程中起着举足轻重的作用。     

社会保障权及其宪法保护的基本原则

社会保障权是一项独立的公民基本权利。我国目前的社会保障制度大部分是在过去计划经济体制下建立的,存在着一些不合理的因素使得我国对社会保障权的保护严重不足。社会保障各项具体制度都是依据法律而设定的,而各项法律的制定又是由宪法所引导的,可见,以根本大法的形式对社会保障制度作出规定,并将社会保障权规定为公民的基本权利,这样宪法在对社会保障权的保护中能起到关键作用。     

Women's Organizations,Social Learning,and the Federal State: A Case Study of Canadian Pension Policy

The various ways which federalism influences gender policies has recently received a surge of academic interest. This article contributes to this literature by moving beyond formally adopted policies to study the influence of federalism on social learning amongst women's organizations. Using a most‐likely case study design, this exploratory work traces the policy positions held by women's organizations in Canada during a seven‐year period now known as the Great Pension Debate. Focusing on four empirical indicators of issue attention, participation in policy discussions, specificity of policy proposals, and consensus for reform, the findings suggest that the plurality and temporal proximity of successive policy venues – such as royal commissions and parliamentary committees – created by various governments offered women's organizations an optimum environment to engage in ongoing exchanges leading to the development, and greater specification, of policy positions.     

Yugoslav Social Policy

Yugoslavia provides an interesting example of a decentralized system of policy-making which implies the abolition of the state's main role in economic and social affairs. Self-management is the basic principle of the socio-political system in Yugoslavia. It involves all levels, processes and fields of social relationships from working organizations (enterprises) and local communities to the communes, republics and Federation. The implications of this system of socio-political organization for social policy and provision are examined.     

Social Policy and the Discipline of Social Administration

The last ten years have seen a spate of books analysing social policy in terms of ideologies or models of welfare. These models, which combine an explanatory or scientific and a normative or value component, offer the discipline of social administration a terrain or base of its own from which it can legitimately explore a range of normative and scientific issues. It is suggested that the central task of social policy analysis, at the highest level of generality of the discipline, is to tease out the relevant normative and factual propositions or assumptions underlying these models and subject them to close scrutiny. In this the discipline would largely be following, but also extending somewhat, the agenda for social administration outlined by Richard Titmuss in 1968.     

Social Policy and European Union

What social policy developments may be reasonably expected from the European Union? Three possible positions on this question are developed: a market liberal view; a progressive liberal view; and an institutionalist view. None of these positions is obviously the correct one, and in each case a mixture of pragmatic and principled criticisms can be developed. However, it is argued that the progressive liberal position strikes an ethically acceptable balance of competing considerations.