East Asian approaches of activation: the politics of labor market policies in South Korea and Taiwan

2021

Soc Policy Adm

What drives social policy development? Most of the literature addressing this issue focuses on the economic crisis and the increase in left power as its causation. On the basis of the Indonesian case, this paper engages in a debate about the clouts of clientelism and familial ethics in shaping social policy path development. This article claims that the quick replacement of productivist welfare regimes with the more inclusive system after Asian Financial Crisis is motivated by increased elites' interest in repositioning their clientelistic network within a public institution. This is occurring while familial precepts are being used as effective moral politics in encouraging kinship networks to internalize social risks during the regime replacement process. Overall, the case of Indonesia reflects the common characteristic of welfare regimes development in East Asian countries where efforts to modernize social policy are conditioned under a situation where democracy is not well‐established and the post‐modern family structure has not fully matured either. Consequently, the development of social policy to a large extent is still confined within a huge clientelistic influence and implemented under the familial ideology. This situation has ultimately retarded welfare state development.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The complementary roles between clientelism and familism in social policy development

2021

Soc Policy Adm

“…This study has gone some way towards enhancing our understanding of what Stiglitz (2018) calls a welfare state in the 21st century, where there is no ideological attachment to the best way to overcome the emergence of various social risks in the contemporary era. Apart from the emergence of “clientelism” which later became new issues in welfare distribution in the post-Asian crisis era (Yuda, 2019; Aspinall, 2013; Hadiz and Chryssogelos, 2017; Murphy, 2019; Rodan and Jayasuriya, 2009); the democratization process, on the other hand, has provided the critical groundwork for the development of welfare innovations with universal benefits for all citizens, “including non-disabled individuals with low incomes” (Kim and Shi, 2019, p. 8).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The structural approach “illustrates the limits of welfare reforms but fails to recognize the rapid expansion of East Asian social policies. Contrarily, the [power resources] theory explains the rapid welfare expansion but overlooks the limit of welfare reforms and the role of conservative governments” (Kim and Shi, 2019, p. 3). Theoretical innovation is needed in explaining the rapid welfare expansion, welfare reforms to address the power resource theory's shortcomings, especially the role of conservative governments by adding political convergence thesis.…”

Section: Shifting Paradigm In Korean Childcare Configuration: the Importance Of Political Explanationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Traditionally, political explanations of East Asian welfare state development often draw upon the power resource model (Choe and Kim, 2012; Kim and Shi, 2019; Ku, 2007; Peng, 2011; Yon, 2007), which views social policy expansion as the outcome of vibrant coalitions between the leftist party, interest groups, civil society and working-class unions in controlling public policy (Korpi, 1983; Myles and Quadagno, 2002; Olsen and O'Connor, 1998). Although in some instances power resource's assumption is acceptable, as found in the experience in South Korea, where the working-class coalition and civil society alliance through the tripartite commission formed by the government contributed to reforming the Korean welfare system during the 1997–1998 economic crisis (Kim and Shi, 2019; Lee and Kim, 2019; Vincent, 2017). However, we have to notice that once we employed the power resource theory in a specific case, the generalization of the theory tends to break down due to plenty of exceptions in any one case.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reappraisal of the political approach on East Asian welfare state development: the case of childcare expansion in South Korea

2020

IJSSP

PurposePolitical analyses of the East Asian welfare state development often stress the importance of the power resource model, in which vibrant coalitions between the leftist party, interest groups, civil society and working-class unions have become driving factors in producing generous welfare outcomes. Challenging such analyses, this article discusses the convergence of the political attitude between political actors who are increasingly homogeneous (supportive) when it comes to the universal welfare state notion by focussing on childcare in South Korea.Design/methodology/approachBy using desk review of the peer-reviewed literature and reports, this article investigates the causation for why political parties with different political ideologies were keen on extending childcare programs and its outcome in addressing the existing demographic problems in Korea.FindingsAlthough the collective movement, especially in the 1990s and 2000s, had given important contributions to the early development of childcare in South Korea, more breakthroughs in childcare features were precisely and rapidly developed after politicians from different spectrums of political affiliations converged in their supportive attitude of the universal welfare. The driving factors of political convergence itself are not merely due to electoral competition or political activism; furthermore, it can be linked to the increased global institution involvement in domestic policy with extensive permeability, which, have ruined domestic policy development maintained for ideological reasoning and bring in more popular policy setting.Originality/valueThis article contributes to the growing literature on the political aspect of East Asian social policy studies, which goes beyond the traditional power resource analysis and makes a novel contribution to the childcare policy studies.

“…However, in examining the healthcare expansion, we argue that it is not adequate to only focus on those two factors. Despite the fact that industrialisation could effectively explain the Global North welfare states, it fails to acknowledge the rapid expansion of state-driven social policies across nations in the Global South during the late 1980s and 1990s in the transition to de-industrialisation and democratisation (Kim and Shi, 2020). In South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines, this period marked a critical juncture for a massive adaptation of the welfare state ideas (London, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Policy Development Revisited: The Interplay between Push and Pull Factors in the Indonesian Healthcare Expansion

Social Policy and Society

Ashfina

2023

Established theories of social policy development, such as industrialisation and power resources, have been extensively used to explain the expansion of social policy, predominantly in developed economies. We argue that they may not always be applicable in the Global South. Our article examines multiple factors at play in Indonesia’s healthcare policy expansion using qualitative content analysis of historical sources, literature, and nine interviews with key policy architects. Using the pull-and-push factor model, we examined the interactions between policy entrepreneurs and centre-right political parties in creating national healthcare policy architecture and expansion. Our findings confirm that the window of opportunity for expansion was augmented when the political party of the ruling government experienced a decline in public trust, while clientelistic motives among elites facilitated the reform process. Drawing the lesson from Indonesia, we contend push prevails over the pull factors (labour movement and cross-class alliances) in social policy development.