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Reinventing development : the sceptical change agent
This book debunks the foundations of contemporary government-led development policy. The author questions the predictability of success when using mainstream development doctrines and its underlying assumptions, approaching development from a sceptical standpoint, as opposed to the more common optimistic view. The book uses international development and aid as a case study of how rich countries define how change should happen. Further, it suggests alternative ways of thinking about and organizing social change.
Book
Local Integration of Urban–Rural Social-assistance Programmes in China: What Are the Driving Forces?
This study investigates what drives local variations when pursuing urban–rural equity in social welfare provision in China. We examine how internal features, top-down pressure and horizontal competition have shaped local governments’ decisions to adopt a policy that unifies (yitihua) the urban and rural eligibility thresholds of the world's largest means-tested cash transfer programme (dibao). We collected and coded policies that unify urban–rural dibao thresholds in 336 prefecture-level divisions between 2011 and 2019. Event history analysis showed that internal fiscal constraint – primarily cost concerns – drove local policy adoption; top-down pressure from provincial governments with a high degree of coercive power in policy directives exerted a significant impact; and the horizontal competition's effect was insignificant. Our findings indicate that fiscal arrangements and top-down policy directives from superior governments with higher coercive power are potent tools to accelerate the adoption of a social welfare policy that would otherwise be unappealing for local officials.
Journal Article
Does financial inclusion impact socio-economic stability? A study of social safety net in Indian slums
PurposeThe study aims to examine the impact of social assistance schemes introduced by the Indian government on poverty alleviation in urban slums.Design/methodology/approachTo accomplish the study's objectives, primary data were collected from 585 beneficiaries of government schemes operating in India's northwestern state using a multistage sampling technique (Punjab). The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) technique reduced the total dataset to its minimum factors. Then, using second-order confirmatory factor analysis, the data's validity and reliability were determined. The data were analyzed using statistical techniques such as one-way ANOVA, t-test and structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThe study's findings indicate that social assistance provided by the Government of India has a direct and substantial influence on poverty alleviation in urban slums. The study demonstrates how access to basic credit financial services through social assistance programmes has improved the lives of urban poor households living in slums and assisted them in escaping poverty.Research limitations/implicationsThe investigation was undertaken among a few limitations. First, the in-depth investigation of the study is restricted to only the northwestern state of India solely because of limited resources and time availability. Second, the study focuses primarily on the perspectives of beneficiaries of the social assistance schemes in India. Still, it might be expanded in the future to include additional stakeholders such as bank executives, business colleagues and municipal town panchayats.Practical implicationsDue to policymakers' increased emphasis on poor households living in urban slums, this topic is critical for studying many issues.Social implicationsThe research explores gaps in social welfare schemes to direct policymakers and government authorities to take appropriate steps to aid the urban poor people in sliding out of poverty.Originality/valueBy examining the influence of the Indian government's social welfare schemes on poverty reduction in slums, this study contributes to the literature on public assistance schemes and poverty alleviation. This article can assist policymakers in developing nations in increasing financial capability among disadvantaged urban families on a national and international level.
Journal Article
Welfare Mediators as Game Changers? Deconstructing Power Asymmetries Between EU Migrants and Welfare Administrators
Under EU law, EU citizens constitute a particular group of immigrants, as they can, mostly without restrictions, move to, and reside in, another EU country, enjoying equal treatment with nationals in terms of accessing employment and social rights. However, as this article demonstrates, the settlement of EU citizens in another member state does not happen without hurdles. Through a careful in‐depth study of access to transnational welfare rights in practice, we analyse knowledge and resulting power asymmetries impacting interactions between certain EU migrant claimants and street‐level bureaucrats in Austrian and German social administrations. Following an inductive approach, based on an extensive data set of 144 qualitative interviews, this article first unpacks the different types of knowledge asymmetries relating to administrative procedures, formal social entitlements and the German language. We then analyse how such knowledge asymmetries may open space for welfare mediation in order to compensate for a lack of German language skills and to clarify misunderstandings about legal entitlements and obligations embedded in the claims system. Finally, our contribution offers a typology of welfare mediators and their characteristics, as not all types can be regarded as equally effective in reshaping power asymmetries. Overall, this article allows for insights into how welfare mediators, as more or less institutionalised opportunity structures, can shift policy outcomes in unexpected ways, enabling access to social benefits and services for otherwise excluded EU migrant citizens working, or seeking to work, in another EU member state.
Journal Article
You only get what you're organized to take : lessons from the movement to end poverty
\"One of the nation's leading anti-poverty organizers and moral voices shares the largely untold story of the movement to end poverty, open to all, and led by the poor themselves\"-- Provided by publisher.
BOOK
Facing Asia
'No nation can escape its geography', warned Percy Spender, Australia's Minister for External Affairs, in 1950. With the immediate turmoil of World War II over, communism and decolonisation had ended any possibility that Asia could continue to be ignored by Australia. In the early 1950s, Australia embarked on its most ambitious attempt to engage with Asia: the Colombo Plan. This book examines the public and private agendas behind Australia's foreign aid diplomacy and reveals the strategic, political and cultural aims that drove the Colombo Plan. It examines the legacy of WWII, how foreign aid was seen as crucial to achieving regional security, how the plan was sold to Australian and Asian audiences, and the changing nature of Australia's relationship with Britain and the United States. Above all this is the question of how Australia sought to project itself into the region, and how Asia was introduced into the Australian consciousness. In answering these questions, this book tells the story of how an insular society, deeply scarred by the turbulence of war, chose to face its regional future.
eBook
TERRITORIALIZAÇÃO DO SUAS EM BELO HORIZONTE: MAPEAMENTO DA REDE SOCIOASSISTENCIAL
Resumo: O objeto de estudo da pesquisa é a territorialização dos serviços socioassistenciais em Belo Horizonte, com recorte na distribuição territorial dos serviços/equipamentos do SUAS. Tratou-se de pesquisa documental, exploratória e descritiva com análise de dados secundários provenientes de bases públicas. Os objetivos estabelecidos foram: 1. Mapear território administrativo da política de Assistência Social, visando quantificar e verificar distribuição territorial de serviços/equipamentos e força de trabalho; 2. Verificar se tal distribuição está adequada ao contingente territorial e populacional da cidade. Os dados foram levantados a partir do CensoSUAS e GeoSUAS (instrumento de georreferenciamento da política em Belo Horizonte). Os resultados demonstraram limitações dos instrumentos para compreensão da territorialização da assistência social e ausência de indicadores sociais que apontem razão entre território, população e força de trabalho. Mesmo assim, auxiliaram para demonstrar a insuficiente distribuição territorial de equipamentos/serviços e que as saídas encontradas na cidade podem favorecer classes de acesso ao SUAS, processo denominado de cidadania regulada na assistência social.
Journal Article