Partnership and participation: contradictions and tensions in the social policy space

Partnerships and participation seem to be the order of the day. Yet, for many community organisations, this way of ordering the social policy space is contradictory, creating practice tensions that increase the complexity of local service systems. Such changes impact community organisations in a politics that needs to be made visible if they are to be able to act in the interests of their members and service users. We therefore outline the social policy space currently constituted by four major discourses: neo‐liberalism, managerialism, new paternalism and network governance as they intersect and interact chaotically, reshaping participation and partnerships between government, community service organisations and local communities. We then examine how policy as a technology or set of mechanisms is discursively creating contradictions and practice tensions within which community organisations engage for social justice.     

Liquid advocacy: Social welfare advocacy in neoliberal times

This article examines current inconsistent trends in social welfare advocacy literature. Some studies show evidence of widespread engagement in advocacy by nonprofit organisations, while other studies conversely offer evidence of limited advocacy activities. Another controversial aspect stems from the question whether governmental funding undermines the extent to which nonprofits engage in advocacy. We argue that these findings reflect the contradictory impact of neoliberal governance on social welfare advocacy. The article highlights and discusses three interrelated components of neoliberalism and their impact on current social welfare advocacy: marketisation, precariousness and commodification. Neoliberalism has propelled a model of market-driven civil society that has remade the practice of social welfare advocacy in contradictory ways. With its complex rationales, neoliberalism has simultaneously undermined the ability of nonprofits to engage in advocacy but in a paradoxical way has also created conditions that induce these organisations to practice advocacy. Implications for practice and research on social welfare advocacy are discussed.     

Child protection in China: Changing policies and reactions from the field of social work

This article offers a general review of the development of national policies on child protection in China. It offers an in‐depth analysis of related legislation enacted between 2010 and 2015 that have had an impact on child protection and related historical, cultural and legal issues. Furthermore, in the study we examined the emerging role of social work in preventing and responding to child abuse and neglect in China. Major findings of the research include: (i) policies concerning child protection have been highly influenced by Confucianism and its perspective of the child as family property; (ii) child protection regulations on accident reporting, custody transfer, and surrogate care are gradually being refined and improved, although the legal system for child protection is still incomplete and needs further substantiation; and (iii) the involvement of non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) and social workers has enhanced the child protection system. Key Practitioner Message: ? Policies concerning child protection have been subject to an immense impact by Confucianism, placing strong responsibility on family members in providing childcare although the child is viewed as part of the family's property; ? After 1949, the newly founded socialist political structure began to exert a significant influence on welfare and child welfare policies. Because the Confucian perspective emphasised family and parental responsibility, government in China has traditionally not been heavily involved in policies that interfere in the internal workings of families; ? Since the shift toward an open‐door policy in 1979, child protection policies in China have begun to develop, with a child welfare network gradually spreading to cover the majority of children. Moreover, child protection is generally supported by the legal system, within which regulations on accident reporting, custody transfer and surrogate care are gradually being refined and improved. However, despite the huge progress achieved in recent years, there are significant deficits in its implementation and monitoring; ? The involvement of non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) and professional social work services has promoted a child protection system.     

Commercial,non‐profit and governmental residential elderly care in Flanders: Differences in client selection and efficiency?

Verschuere B, Moray N, Decramer A. Commercial, non‐profit and governmental residential elderly care in Flanders: differences in client selection and efficiency? Inspired by New Public Management, governments have stimulated competition, outsourcing and privatisation in the public sector. Also, in care of the elderly, there has been a substantial increase in commercial provision. The present study explored the presumed differences in the performance of public (governmental), private non‐profit and private commercial elderly care organisations. We used quantitative indicators on the population of residential elderly care organisations in Flanders (Belgium). Although we found that commercial elderly care facilities tended to be more input‐efficient while non‐profit and public elderly care facilities tended to be more attentive to recruiting and housing residents with high care needs, these results need to be interpreted in light of the regulatory framework in which the different types of elderly care facilities operate.     

Children and safety in Australian policy: Implications for organisations and practitioners

Child safety is now a national policy priority in Australia. Extensive enquiries and reviews have escalated legislative and policy responses focused on developing, maintaining and monitoring “child safe” organisations. The recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse point to the importance of cultural conditions within organisations in supporting child safety and the need for responsive change in some organisations. Drawing on a recent policy analysis, undertaken as part of a larger Australian Research Council Discovery Project, this article examines how children and safety are constructed, within and across relevant state and federal government policies in Australia, and the implications of this. Distinctions are drawn between conceptualisations of children within the broader education policy context and two specific policy contexts in which children are considered particularly vulnerable to abuse – out‐of‐home care and disability. The findings indicate that policy discourses of “child safe” potentially foster different emphases and approaches in organisations. These have implications for the way children are positioned in relation to their safety, how their rights are recognised and implemented, and what is required to foster cultural conditions within organisations to best support children’s safety and wellbeing.     

Can we remember differently? A case study of the new culture of memory in voluntary organisations

This article analyses the positive contribution that Slovenian voluntary, non–governmental organisations, users' organisations and community–based services in the field of mental health have made to the 'new culture of memory' of helpers and users. The conceptual differences between Slovenian psychiatric (institutional) treatment and voluntary community care are presented through the case study of Clare, a young woman who was diagnosed as a chronic schizophrenic. This example shows the importance of community care in voluntary organisations for the reduction of disability associated with mental disorders. The development of the new culture of memory in voluntary organisations and community–based services is not only the 'narrative turn' within social welfare, but also symbolises the 'implicit turn' in the relationship between the helper and the user. The real challenge of the new culture of memory in the process of help to disabled people (in respect of individuals working through traumatic memories) is that the helper can bear and support the user on a daily basis. During the process of their relationship, the deep implicit relational memories of both become activated and influence the change within the user as well as the helper.     

The influence of faith‐based organisations on Australian social policy

This historical overview explores the crucial and changing relationships between faith‐based organisations and governments, not only in the implementation of social services but also in the formation of social policy. Historically Australian governments have left large areas of social provision to the non‐government sector. For example, income support for the unemployed was not taken up by governments until World War II and income support for sole parents remained largely a responsibility for non‐government organisations (NGOs) until the 1970s. Prior to governments taking responsibility for income support, most of these NGOs were religious organisations surviving on donations, philanthropic support and limited government funding. It is argued that the dominant, semi‐public role of religious organisations in service delivery and social policy formation is an important but largely overlooked aspect of the Australian historical experience.     

Faith‐based organisations and social policy in Melanesia

This paper examines the contribution that faith‐based organisations (FBOs) make to social policy in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. The paper sets contemporary relationships between church and state in these independent states of Melanesia in their individual historical contexts of missionisation, colonisation and decolonisation. Since independence these sovereign nations have relied on the networks and social capital of faith‐based communities and organisations in policy implementation in critical areas such as health and education. FBOs, for their part, have endeavoured to participate in policy and programme implementation without losing their autonomy. This pattern of selective cooperation has produced a unique policy environment, in which policy coordination continues to challenge government officials. Despite close association between FBOs and social policy in the Melanesian states, the slow progress with human development indicators and the Millennium Development Goals highlights the need to find more effective approaches to agenda‐setting, policy articulation and implementation.     

"So Many Tiers, So Many Agendas, So Many Pots of Money": The Challenge of English Regionalization for Voluntary and Community Organizations

This paper looks at the challenges facing voluntary and community organizations (VCOs) within the new policy context of English “regionalism”, drawing primarily on an empirical study in one of the emerging Regions. Barriers to voluntary and community sector (VCS) engagement with the new regional governmental organizations and the new regional policy agenda are identified. The role of VCS “infrastructure” organizations in facilitating relationships with regional levels of government is also considered. The concepts of exchange, ownership, trust and legitimacy are then employed to analyse and explain the implications for English VCOs of working with a new tier of government at regional level. The paper concludes by reconsidering the nature of the relationship between VCOs and “government” in the light of the new policy context presented by English regionalism combined with central government interest in building the capacity and infrastructure of the voluntary sector.     

The mediating role of the Ombudsman in the protection of human rights

The findings of the study discussed in this article indicate that the respondents are aware of the power of the economy over social issues in all social affairs in our society. They see the networking role, professional knowledge and leadership skills of the Ombudsman as core competencies in solving problems pertaining to human rights brought about by increasing social inequality. Complex problems regarding human rights demand coordination between national and international governmental and non-governmental organisations because human rights are becoming a central dimension of international affairs today.     

效率何处寻:对温州民营企业发展的一项考察

本文的关注点在于,改革开放以来,"温州模式"下民营企业的效率机制产生的来源是什么.关于企业的效率机制历来存在两种解释路径:来自企业内部的制度优化和由地方政府及地方市场提供的支持资源.本文考察了这两种解释路径在不同规模企业里的适用性,并提出两种解释路径不是相互竞争的关系,它们对不同规模的企业有着不一样的适用性.文章对制度化产权和家族管理模式、理性化的企业运作、源自政府的支持对企业效率的实际影响提出了一些新的思考.     

Integrated care and the ‘agentification’ of the English National Health Service

Integrated care is a global reform principle for improving patient access and outcomes by ensuring that healthcare organisations deliver services in a joined‐up, person‐centred way. Following reforms designed to infuse agency within English National Health Service (NHS) organisations, the agenda for integration must come to grips with the different approaches to joint working that these organisations mobilise, and the compatibility of their different agentic orientations. We build a matrix for identifying the extent to which different forms of agency orient nine NHS organisational types. Interrogating the Strategic and Operational Plans of these organisations for the period 2015–2018 based on questions derived from the matrix, we associate each organisation with one of eight generalised models. Assuming that there is greater potential for integration where organisations mobilise similar forms of agency, we discuss the incentives and potential governance changes that policy makers might consider to enhance integrative potential.     

政府失灵及其矫正

政府失灵的原因主要体现在制定和实施公共政策的制约因素、政府机构的低效率、政府机构及其官员的寻租与腐败 ,等等。政府失灵的矫正措施是 :建立健全法律制度 ,规范政府行为 ;遵守效能原则 ,选择最佳政府规模 ;引入竞争机制 ,提高政府机构效率 ;转变政府管理方式 ,提高政府行政水平 ;强化事前监督与事后惩罚机制 ,对政府实施有效的社会监督     

唐代物价制定及其作用

在唐代,市估不但对官方行为具有强制性作用,是官方买卖、收付折算、平赃定罪、控制物价必须依据的价格标准;对一般民间(私人)交易也有着不同程度的约束(指导、调节)作用,且在有人请求、发生争执、立券公证等情况下也不排除依市估而定。笔者以为对唐代国家的物价管理政策及“官市依估,私但两和”的交易原则,不宜做绝对性理解。     

Holding Our Own: Value and Performance in Nonprofit Organisations

This essay explores the role of values in relation to nonprofit organisations' performance. The centrality of values to performance is explored in relation to staff productivity and motivation, investment in organisational development and leadership from both CEOs and Boards. An argument is developed that values are central to the performance of nonprofit organisations. Despite calls for nonprofit organisations to become more “business‐like”, this essay argues that the third sector's performance is directly related to the mission driven nature of our organisations.     

Regulation of Personal Social Services – The Israeli Experience

The current article explores the aspects of regulatory policy in the field of personal social services. In Israel, the government sets standards, and finances and oversees personal social services, while the services themselves are provided primarily by non‐governmental organizations. Based on a qualitative study we examined two questions. First, what characterizes the implementation of regulatory mechanisms in the field of personal social services in Israel? Second, how can we explain the outcomes of regulation in the personal social services in Israel? In a unique approach, we used the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework to explore the regulatory practices implemented in community residences and hostels for people with intellectual disabilities and in after school programmes. The findings revealed that although there were implementation gaps in both cases, the IAD might improve our understanding of the nature and magnitude of these gaps. Furthermore, the insights gained may have implications for policymakers in their development of regulatory policy.     

Review

Bob Deacon, Michelle Hulse and Paul Stubbs, Global social policy: International organisations and the future of welfare     

The impact of governmental assistance on insurance demand under ambiguity: a theoretical model and an experimental test

This article deals with the impact of governmental assistance on insurance demand under ambiguity, i.e., in situations where probabilities are uncertain. First, using a model of insurance demand under ambiguity, we derive theoretical predictions about the impact of several governmental assistance programmes on optimal insurance demand. For example, governmental assistance through a fixed public support scheme implies that partial insurance is always optimal under fair insurance with ambiguity. Second, we present the results of an experiment designed to test these predictions. We find support for several of our theoretical predictions. For example, the presence of governmental assistance through a fixed public support scheme decreases individuals’ willingness to pay to be fully insured. Finally, we compare these results with those obtained for a risk situation. We find that, regardless of the form of governmental assistance, participants in the ambiguity context are consistently willing to pay more to be fully insured than participants in the risk situation.     

Child safety in policy: Who is being kept safe and from what?

Keeping children safe from harm is a national policy priority in Australia. Extensive inquiries and reviews have highlighted institutions' persistent failures to respond ethically and appropriately to child abuse and its life-long impacts on survivors. Policy efforts now reflect considerable emphasis on safeguarding children, including through the development of ‘child safe’ organisations. The realisation of these policy aspirations requires close attention to how ‘child safe’ is conceptualised and operationalised in different organisational contexts. Drawing on an analysis of policy in Australia and other international jurisdictions, namely New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland, this article engages critically with the notion of ‘child safe’ in policy, to explore who is to be safe, from what and how, in organisational settings. The findings suggest emergent discourses of ‘child safe’ are bound up with particular constructions of both children and safety, reflect current social and political understandings and agendas, and have implications for organisations' approaches to safety. Ensuring the safety of children in Australia and other jurisdictions requires continuing scrutiny of policy implementation to make sure current policy efforts are not reduced to compliance-based imperatives that protect organisations, but fail to create the cultural conditions that enhance children's wellbeing and safety.