An analysis of donor engagement with education policy development in Lao PDR from 1991 to 2000

This paper describes the relationship between donor agencies and government during the development of Lao basic education policy in the post‐Cold War period, 1991‐2000. We argue that Laos had only recently been ‘re‐ born’ from colonial regimes, and was thus unable to resist or mediate donor policy agendas and donors who acted on behalf of economically developed nations. The nature of the power relationship between donor and government is explored through an analysis of policy developed at that time as well as the perceptions of aid conditionalities, as recalled by government officials and those working in the aid sector at that time. These perceptions were gathered through interviews conducted by one of the authors.     

Debt‐Relief Effectiveness and Institution‐Building

This article provides new evidence on the effects of recent debt‐relief programmes on different macroeconomic indicators in developing countries, focusing on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs). The relationship between debt relief and institutional change is also investigated to assess whether donors are moving towards ex‐post governance conditionality. Results show that debt relief is only weakly associated with subsequent improvements in economic performance but is correlated with increasing domestic debt which undermines the positive achievements in reducing external debt service. There is also evidence that donors are moving towards a more sensible allocation of debt forgiveness, rewarding countries which have better policies and institutions.     

Dual conditionality in welfare and housing for lone parents in Ireland: Change and continuity?

This article focuses on multiple conditionalities in benefits and housing from the perspective of lone parents in Ireland. The Irish case echoes historical experiences elsewhere and is offered not as an exceptional or extreme case but as an in-depth single case study and a lens for comparison. Although contemporary forms and combinations of conditionalities are new to Ireland, the experience of multiple conditionalities in benefits and housing is not new. Hence, a historical perspective is used to examine contemporary multiple conditionalities in benefits and housing. In the past, conditional regimes for lone parents were justified in terms of moral reformation for first time mothers and avoiding moral contagion of mothers with subsequent pregnancies. In contemporary times, in the case of employment, lone parents are problematised as working part-time and “nesting” on in-work-benefits, and in the case of homelessness, lone parents who prioritise the security of tenure embedded in social housing are accused of “gaming” the system. While acknowledging ambiguities, the paper finds the overlap of welfare and housing discourses contribute, intentionally or unintentionally, to epistemological foundations or understandings of lone parents, shifting public perceptions, and framing them as “problems” to be solved. They simultaneously temper lone parents' expectations. Increased precarity and disempowerment is associated with dual conditionality, and ontological uncertainty is multiplied when experienced cumulatively across employment, social protection, and housing regimes in a context of generally poor public services and labour market precarity and in the historical context of stigmatisation. Nonetheless, lone parents demonstrate considerable agency.     

Employers' perspectives on benefit conditionality in the UK and Denmark

This article examines the under-explored demand-side of active labour market policies (ALMPs). Based on interview data from a comparative study of the UK and Denmark, the paper analyses employers' perspectives and experiences of ALMPs. In both countries, employers were favourably disposed towards employing unemployed jobseekers but held negative views on conditionality. First, benefit conditionality led to employers receiving large numbers of unsuitable and unfiltered job applications, with associated negative resource impacts. Second, employers perceived this as a product of ‘box ticking' and compliance targets. Finally, employers criticised policy and media rhetoric for focusing solely on the supply-side and for problematizing unemployed candidates. The paper argues that these crucial, but neglected, employer perspectives demonstrate that the current benefit conditionality regime in the UK risks irrevocably ‘tarnishing' candidates, which undermines, rather than enhances, their chances of securing employment through ALMPs. This unique dataset provides further evidence that the current direction of policy requires urgent and radical re-thinking.     

The moral hazard of conditionality: Restoring the integrity of social security law

This article examines the extent to which the Australian and UK social security systems meet their legal obligations to provide basic relief to citizens in need. Conditionality and “mutual obligation” are at the core of both the UK and Australian social security systems and are based on the concept of moral hazard, the goal being to ensure that claimants do not consider living on benefits to be preferable to engaging in paid work. Yet, we argue that the element of “mutuality” is missing in both systems; welfare claimants are subject to myriad conditions and obligations, whilst the state operates free of any legal responsibility to provide even basic relief to those in need, to prevent or alleviate extreme poverty and destitution. We outline the extent to which Australian and UK social security laws require governments to relieve destitution, examining both domestic and human rights law. We conclude that legal protections are weak and that both systems fail to meet the basic conditions of humanity toward their citizens. On this basis, we argue that such failings demonstrate a lack of integrity which undermines the standing of both the UK and Australia to invoke a claim of moral hazard to defend claimant conditionality.     

Leader,Protester, Enabler,Spoiler: Aid Strategies and Donor Politics in Institutional Assistance

Aid co‐ordination has come to be seen as a miracle cure for the ills of donor proliferation. However, in weak states where aid conditionality may be a catalyst for institutional change, the ideal of aid co‐ordination is conceptually suspect, and in some instances politically counterproductive. Co‐ordination is one of the two solutions to the collective‐action problem that the public good of effective institutional conditionality generates; donor leadership is the other. The desirability of each solution depends on every donor's commitment and presence, which together generate a four‐fold typology: leader, protester, enabler, and spoiler. As long as there is at least one enabler or spoiler donor present, aid co‐ordination will be less effective than donor leadership.     

Frontline implementation of welfare conditionality in Norway: A maternalistic practice

Welfare conditionality is both ambitious and ambiguous for the frontline workers who put policy into practice. Since January 2017, the Norwegian frontline service should require social assistance benefit recipients under the age of 30 to participate in some sort of work-related activation, so-called mandatory activation. Drawing on qualitative interviews with frontline workers at local offices in the Norwegian Public Welfare Service (NAV), we investigate how the requirement is implemented in a context of a professionalised social welfare service. Mandatory activation is arguably a paternalistic measure. Drawing on Bernardo Zacka's concept of moral dispositions and Laura Specker Sullivan's concepts of maternalism, our findings indicate that at the frontline, mandatory activation policies are implemented by maternalistic decision making, emphasising the interpersonal relation between trained caseworkers and clients. The caseworkers use their discretionary powers in the implementation of conditionality and sanctions by emphasising care and support as embedded in the strict rules.     

Does Western “Aid” Work?--Changing Discourses and Logics

International aid,always concerned as the Western aid,has been in decades’ development after the Second World War.From the Post-colonial time to the era of globalisation,from Washington Consensus to the Post-Washington Consensus,there are various aid discourses,motives and the intervention logics.This paper explores the Western aid through a critical review to the history and the contemporary development of "aid".It argues,despite these changes,the fundamental logic of aid,the logic of "catching up",has not been changed.The related economic and political interventions,such as the aid conditionalities,are all working for this logic,and have caused a lot of criticisms.Aid has not been very successful within the changing agendas.While the foreign aid is moving from intervention to cooperation,to make a more effective "aid",the traditional donors may learn lessons from the South-South relations.     

确权立法中的三线式结构

在法律上清晰确定某项权利或权力,需要三个层面的规定。它们就像法律为该项法权确定的三条界线,共同构成了确权立法中的三线式结构。它是在全面总结确权立法经验教训的基础上形成的。自觉认识和运用三线式确权立法结构,对于提高立法的科学性、充分发挥法律对法权的规范作用,具有非常重要的意义。     

The making and breaking of solidarity between unwaged and waged workers in the UK

ABSTRACT

This article explores in what way solidarity relationships are made and unmade between waged and un-waged workers in the UK. It thereby feeds into the broader discussion on the decline and future of trade unionism and new ways of organizing struggle. In particular, it engages with the literature on community unionism. Methodologically it draws on Participatory Action Research undertaken between 2013 and 2017 with 12 unwaged workers’ groups organizing outside of established trade unions. Conceptually the article challenges understandings of solidarity based on self-interest by emphasising its relational complexity. It argues for a concept of workers’ solidarity that is based on a broadened understanding of work but which at the same time goes beyond a common identity by paying attention to power-discrepancies and current inequalities. Through such a lens, solidarity is created through affective bonds and is based on a shared anger about injustice and a common desire for transformation.