Abstract
Industrial accident insurance establishes an individual right to protection against a key risk of industrial modernity. Introduced in Imperial Germany in 1884, accident insurance became a global model, promoted by the International Labour Organization. In 2004, China adopted the German and ILO models of accident insurance, although individual rights are not rooted in Confucianism or Sino-Communism. Drawing on theories of global knowledge diffusion, we analyse the views and beliefs of Chinese experts that underpinned this unlikely reform. We find that the experts advocated the global model because in their view it reflected broader global norms and values. But, Chinese policy-makers also limited the influence of global ideas, by designing the administration of accident insurance in accordance with ‘Chinese’ traditions. The findings testify to the world-wide spread of social protection influenced by global ideas, but they also expose the limits of the notion of a global culture of social protection.
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