Global social policy: an application of welfare state theory

ABSTRACT

Global social policy (GSP) takes different forms from those of national welfare states, since it depends on the activities of an array of international organisations and transnational actors. Three broad theoretical approaches have dominated the literature on national welfare state development: those focused on processes of economic development, industrialisation and urbanisation; those focused on class struggle and political mobilisation; and those focused on the effects of political institutions. This article applies each of these broad theoretical approaches to the development of GSP in order to illuminate the nature of GSP, its likely future development, and the constraints upon such development. It is concluded that the dominant forms taken by GSP will continue to be piecemeal, minimalist and essentially neoliberal for as long as an effective global political movement in favour of a more extensive GSP is absent.

KEYWORDS:

• Global social policy
• global social governance
• welfare state theory
• welfare state development

Acknowledgment

This article is dedicated to the memory of Bob Deacon, who did so much to establish global social policy as a field of study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Chris Holden is Reader in International Social Policy and Director of the Centre for Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy at the University of York, UK. He has published widely on the relationships between the global economy, transnational corporations and health and social policy. He has been a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Social Policy and of the International Advisory Board of the journal Global Social Policy. He co-edited The Global Social Policy Reader (2009) and Social Policy Review (2009–2011).

Notes

1. Smith and Wiest (2012) analysed the Yearbook of International Organizations for odd-numbered years from 1953 to 2009, to determine whether the primary purpose of the organization was the pursuit of social change. To be included, the group had to be identified as committed to social change, not-for-profit, and not directed or led by a government or international agency. Full details can be found in Smith and Wiest (2012), Appendix 2.A1, pages 70–71.

2. The G19 declaration was a series of action proposals developed by 19 prominent intellectuals, which was published during the 2005 World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. The Bamako Appeal was a longer discussion of proposals by a larger group of 80 prominent figures at the 2006 ‘polycentric’ World Social Forum in Bamako, Mali. Discussion of these can be found in Smith et al. (2016, pp. 102–105).