Recalibrating social protection: Electoral competition and the new partisan politics of the welfare state

This article investigates the new party politics of welfare states with a particular focus on electoral competition. The argument is that welfare state politics are no longer just about more or less, but involve trade-offs among ‘new’ versus ‘old’ social rights, and hence social investment versus social consumption. However, party priorities on these issues are highly dependent upon their electoral situation. As electoral competition becomes more intense, parties focus more on vote maximisation than on their traditional policy goals. For left parties, this means focusing more on social investment, which appeals to their growing constituency of progressive sociocultural professionals, and less on defending the traditional income maintenance programmes favoured by their core blue-collar voters. Centre-right parties, on the other hand, should hesitate to retrench old social rights when electoral competition intensifies because they need to prioritise their appeal to culturally conservative working-class voters over their traditional fiscally conservative policy profiles. Using a new dataset and a recently published measure of electoral competitiveness, the article shows that as electoral competition intensifies, left governments are willing to prioritise social investment by reducing pension rights generosity in order to expand programmes for new social risks, while centre-right governments by contrast avoid retrenchment of pension rights and pension expenditures. The findings demonstrate that this relationship is moderated by the presence of a credible radical right challenger, which increases the electoral risk of welfare state recalibration.     

The Welfare Conventions Approach: A Comparative Perspective on Social Impact Bonds

Abstract

The Social Impact Bond (SIB) is a new funding mechanism for welfare programs. It is supposed to create savings for the public sector from which private returns can be deducted. Presented as a purely technical solution, SIBs discard their political morality. The Welfare Convention Approach (WCA) is designed for studying SIBs as disputed and versatile welfare apparatuses. It is claimed that elements from diverse historical welfare conventions (the philanthropic, communitarian, civic, market, full employment, entrepreneurial, financial, and behavioral) reveal the diverse institutional conflicts and compromises of SIBs at the time they are implemented. In so doing, the WCA informs comparative research on SIBs.     

福利的本质与公共福利的多元循义供给——兼论需求溢出理论的福利观及永续福利国家

在世界范围内,福利及社会福利的概念都存在多重内涵。需求溢出理论认为,作为不同福利概念内涵的最大公约数,福利的本质即需求保障;而属于公共事务范畴的公共福利的公共性则有实质公共性和形式公共性之分;公共福利的供给主体包括作为元主体的个人和作为衍生主体的四类广义社会组织,公共福利的供给呈现出多元路径或多元机制的嵌入式混合并用。需求溢出理论的福利观主张,我国应建立多元循义供给的永续福利国家,通过公共福利定向供给的退出机制使有劳者的福利总水平(私人福利+公共福利)始终高于不劳者的福利总水平,从而在为民众提供高品质的公共福利的同时,避免落入西方传统福利国家的养懒人陷阱。     

民事公益之基本类型与程序路径

民事诉讼所要承载之"公益"价值目标可一分为二:"集合性公益"与"纯粹性公益"。基于其间的本质差异,承载二者的制度逻辑和程序原理必须有所区别。传统的"群体性诉讼"制度,如代表人诉讼、选定当事人诉讼、集团诉讼、示范性诉讼(亦称实验性诉讼)等,足以承载"集合性公益"之救济需求。"纯粹性公益"之价值目标,则必须由"公益侵害阻断程序"加以承载。我国新《民事诉讼法》第55条所要建立的民事公益诉讼制度是以德国为代表的"团体诉讼"(verbandsklage)制度为模本的。该项制度在一定程度上开始突破传统民事诉讼之私益属性原理,在广义上属于公益侵害阻断程序的范畴,其制度功能处于"集合性公益"与"纯粹性公益"的临界点上。     

儿童福利视野下的少年司法路径选择

经过近三十年的探索与发展,我国少年司法制度在维护未成年人合法权益及预防未成年人违法犯罪上取得较大成绩。随着少年司法改革的进一步深化及与国际接轨的沉重压力,当前迫切需要以儿童福利理念、机制与政策全面贯彻少年司法始终,逐步建立、健全少年司法与刑事司法双轨制,并提升少年刑事司法、少年民事司法及少年行政司法一体化建设,推动青少年事务局等专门性、专业性政府协调机构的建立。     

法治思维下的福利与反腐

随着中央反腐力度不断加大,逢节送礼的不正之风受到极大遏制。与此同时,一些传统的职工节日福利也被取消,这引发了广泛的争议:有人认为不该借反腐之名拿掉职工福利,也有人认为"反腐不反职工福利"是特权思想在作怪,是打着民意的旗号为腐败行为辩护。应当确立福利的合理范畴,区分福利腐败与正常福利的界限,使薪酬和福利设计摆脱暧昧、灰色的性质,改变福利随意发放和定位不清的现状。福利腐败的治理必须运用法治思维依法进行,必须坚持公开、公平、公正原则,必须注意区别对象、合情合理。通过具体的规章制度管理好福利,是治标;最终实现福利的法治化、正规化、制度化,则是治本。     

对企业提取法定公益金相关法律规定的质疑

我国现行的一些法律、法规在税后利润分配,特别是提取公益金方面,对不同类型的企业作出了差异性较大的规定.尽管它们是在特定的历史条件下制定和实施的,对改革开放和经济发展产生过推动作用.然而,在发展市场经济和与世界经济接轨的今天,它们逐步显现出与时代发展的不相适应性,暴露出种种弊端和问题,需要尽快对相关法律进行修订.     

福利国家的回顾与展望——政治光谱学的研究路径

长期以来，作为西方现代资本主义社会发展的一个历史现象，福利国家以及与此相关的社会福利和社会保障政策一直被视为发达工业化民主国家的一个本质特征。近些年来，这些制度和相关政策也引起其它国家，特别是发展中国家的重视。尤其是福利国家在应时市场经济失灵、干预经济过程、消除贫富分化以及稳定社会秩序方面表现出来的独特作用，时于转型之中的中国社会和政治来说，具有许多可借鉴的东西。     

新加坡人民行动党人民理念的践行与启示

新加坡人民行动党从1959年自治后上台执政至今,已连续赢得13届大选,执政长达50余年,成为世界上实行多党制国家中执政时间最长的政党。新加坡人民行动党之所以能够稳操胜券、长期执政,除了通过对各种资源近乎垄断的控制、对程序立法的精心设计以及对选战策略的一系列技术性安排之外,最重要的原因在于人民行动党以促进国家福利和人民幸福为宗旨,始终坚持不懈地致力于为民办实事、造福人民,用实际行动赢得了选民的真心支持。     

“Those Are Our People and That's Our Family”: Wabanaki Perspectives on Child Welfare Practice in Their Communities

In collaboration with the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission Convening Group, this study explored perspectives of Wabanaki community members and tribal child welfare staff on state child welfare involvement in Wabanaki communities. Qualitative analysis of three focus groups found that participants perceived fundamental differences between what guides the work of tribal child welfare staff and state child welfare staff, as well as differences in understanding the profound impact of removing a child from the community. These findings are suggested to be elements of a Wabanaki counter-narrative that contrasts with the historical dominant narrative about Native families and children.