Conceptualising the politics of social protection expansion in low income countries: The intersection of transnational ideas and domestic politics

Abstract

The growing literature on social protection in low income developing countries has tended to focus on definitional debates, policy design and impact evaluations, with relatively little consideration of the ways in which politics shape policy. This article argues that politics needs to be at the centre of efforts to understand social protection and outlines a new conceptual framework for investigating this, with a particular focus on explaining the variation in progress made by low income countries in adopting and implementing social protection. We propose that an adapted ‘political settlements’ framework that incorporates insights from the literatures on welfare state development – notably ‘power constellations’ theory, discursive institutionalism and global policy networks – can help frame political commitment to social protection as flowing from the interaction of domestic political economy and transnational ideas. Importantly, this approach situates social protection within a broader political and policy context, and highlights the influence of underlying power relations at multiple levels.

The Politics of Promoting Social Protection in Zambia

“…These insights flow directly from our employment of an alternative conceptual approach to understanding the political economy of social protection in Africa. This framework focused on the nature of the 'political settlement' and interactions with the policy coalitions involved in the redistributive development strategies within which social protection sits (Lavers and Hickey 2016). 1 The approach is based on an 'adapted political settlements' framework incorporating insights from the literature on welfare state development and social protection in both industrialized countries and the global south (e.g.…”

“…Huber and Stephens 2012;Kpessa and Béland 2013; see also Barrientos and Pellissery 2012;Hickey 2007;Niño-Zarazúa et al 2011); on the role of ideas in shaping political behaviour and institutional change (Schmidt 2008); and the role of global policy networks (Stone 2008). The framework is expanded in depth in Lavers and Hickey (2016).…”

“…This section analyses the relative progress of each policy reform in relation to these key elements of the conceptual framework outlined in the introduction to this paper and expanded in Lavers and Hickey (2016).…”

Social Protection in an Aspiring 'Developmental State': The Political Drivers of Ethiopia's PSNP

“…The 'adapted political settlements' framework guiding the paper is described in Lavers and Hickey (2016). It focuses on the interaction between transnational processes, and the changing balance of interests and ideas within particular political settlements and policy coalitions that provide shifting incentives for the introduction and expansion of social protection.…”

Understanding Elite Commitment to Social Protection: Rwanda's Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme

“…To do so, the paper employs the 'adapted political settlements framework' described in the introductory paper to this special issue and in Lavers and Hickey (2016). This framework proposes that elite commitment to social protection emerges from the interaction between the political settlement, the distributional regime, ideational influences, and policy coalitions advocating for policy change.…”