East Asian Welfare States in TransitionChallenges and Opportunities

Abstract

After the spectacular economic crisis at the end of 1997, there has been a call for reform of social welfare states as well as economic restructuring in East Asia. Covering Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, this article, first, seeks to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the East Asian welfare states. Secondly, it attempts to examine the pressures within the welfare systems as well as social causes for change. Finally, this article seeks to answer the question of whether the low spending regimes of the East Asian welfare states will be maintained in the future. The strength of the East Asian welfare states mainly lies on the fact that they promotes the ideology of developmentalism as well as that they are relatively cheaper than their Western counterparts, while the weak side is that they tend to reinforce social-economic inequalities. Economic recessions and social-economic pressures as well as inefficiencies within the welfare states put a great deal of pressures for changes, and the governments in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have responded with reform measures within the nations' social and political context. Despite different policy responses, the welfare states in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will be more expensive than it used to, although they will remain among the low spenders in the cross-national league tables among developed nations.