Changes In Security Policy Research Articles

Social Security Reform

Despite recent economic gains for women, a substantial gender gap in financial security during old age remains, making women more dependent than men upon Social Security. Social Security plays an important role in providing for women's economic security. The implications for women of several proposed changes in Social Security policy, including the call for the partial privatization of Social Security via the introduction of individual accounts, are analyzed. Many of the proposals would have the effect of asking women, particularly low-income women, to shoulder a disproportionate share of the risks and burdens associated with the changes.

Social Security Reform: Implications for Women

Despite recent economic gains for women, a substantial gender gap in financial security during old age remains, making women more dependent than men upon Social Security. This paper discusses the important role that Social Security plays in providing for women's economic security. It also analyzes the implications for women of several proposed changes in Social Security policy, including the call for the partial privatization of Social Security via the introduction of individual accounts. Many of the proposals would have the effect of asking women, particularly low-income women, to shoulder a disproportionate share of the risks and burdens associated with the changes.

‘Market Workfare’: Social Security, Social Regulation and Competitiveness in the 1990s

A Regulation Approach framework has been adopted to analyse the very rapid period of change in social security policy since the late 1980s. It is argued that the changes can be explained in terms of a number of regulatory dilemmas which emerged or were intensified under neo-liberal capital accumulation. Some of the regulatory dilemmas – high levels of economic inactivity, inflationary pressures consequent to higher employment and low levels of wages – it was thought could be managed through the social security system using what we call ‘market workfare’; by which we mean in-work means-tested social security benefits which have some measure of compulsion to work attached, such that it counts as workfare. The aim of in-work benefits is to reduce wages further so that the market can respond by creating more low-wage employment. By this stratagem it is the market which responds to labour demand, rather than the government creating work opportunities. The parliamentary neo-liberal right's approach to ‘market workfare’ is discussed, and then it is suggested that the marked similarities between New Labour and the previous parliamentary neo-liberal right can be explained because both administrations were attempting to manage the same regulatory dilemmas.

The bane and benefits of computers in Australia’s Department of Social Security

Attempts to establish the extent to which the use of computers in Australia’s Department of Social Security (DSS) has facilitated changes in social security policy and its administration. Bases findings on case studies relating to two new DSS policies, supplemented with documentary evidence. Identifies that computers are used in the DSS for six main purposes ‐ administering, automating, protecting, monitoring and evaluating policy, as well as for modelling future policy options. Identifies that, instead of increasing efficiency in administration, computers have simply increased productivity by enabling administrative practices to be extended into new areas; observes an emerging computer‐dependent culture dominated by quantitative (rather than qualitative) practices. Establishes that the flexibility offered by computer technology has also contributed to the introduction of more complex social security policies. Concludes that computer technology has contributed to the formulation and administration of social security policies.

Norway and a major international crisis: Suez ‐ the very difficult case

This article reviews Norway's policy during the Suez crisis in 1956, how the policy was formed and how it can be explained. Emphasis is put on the decision‐making process and on the role of the powerful Norwegian Shipowners’ Association. It also discusses Norway's most important interests and considerations in policy formation, and how they were balanced. Norway's Suez policy is seen in connection with the close relations with Israel, which could be viewed as in conflict with the protection of Norway's NATO membership and vital economic interests, represented by the powerful shipowners. In the end, Norway's Suez policy is put in the context of the change in Norwegian foreign and security policy in general, a shift in emphasis from being Britain's close ally and friend to being under the protective umbrella of the US, the new superpower.

La France et l'Alliance : les limites du rapprochement

France and NATO: The Limits of Rapprochement, by Frédéric Bozo Thirty years after De Gaulle's décision to withdraw France from NATO's integrated structure, French policy towards NATO is called into question. The current phase of rapprochement between France and NA TO began a few years ago, partly as a result of domestic political changes and, more importantly, as a consequence both of NATO's transformation and of France's changing security policy after the Cold War. For the first time since 1966, the debate which deals with the two issues of Alliance reform and France-NATO relations is opened and has high priority on France's foreign policy agenda.

Iskanje Izgubuenega Sovražnika: Evropsko Javno Mnenje in Varnost

The European general public has had a significant role in the last twenty-five years in shaping the European security picture. Of crucial importance for the legitimacy of the European national security system, and its central component of military organisation, is the ability of the military to fulfil public expectations and demands. Using opinion surveys as means of offering a consultant role to the general public, states are able to plan changes in security policy. For example, when security turmoil arose, as in the cases of European missile deployment, the socialist world breaking up, the cessation of the Warsaw treaty, and war in the territories of the former Yugoslavia, the European general public has participated in reshaping, via such surveys, the security picture of Europe. In each of these cases, the views of the general public have created the limits of acceptable policies. However, it should be noted that political interests, rather than the growth of theoretically grounded research, have supplied the main underlying motives for the growth in public opinion survey research which we have seen in recent years. Thus, opinion research regarding war in the former Yugoslavia is thoroughly embedded in polemical debates and controversy, and is not simply concerned with understanding the situations or contributing to general knowledge about public opinion in times of extreme crisis. Alternatively, if the purpose of such research were to contribute to general knowledge, it might be more focused on such matters as how war effects the replacement of civil security values with military ones in a particular political culture. The military component of a national security system legitimates itself most successfully when a potential enemy exists. Western Europe lost its traditional enemy after the socialist world of Central and Eastern Europe collapsed, which has led to an identity crisis in security policy and a lowering of defence expenditures. In the absence of a clear enemy, most of these countries have brought about significant military transformations, one important manifestation of which has been the move from conscriptive to professional armies.

Things Change: Trends in Austrian Football Hooliganism from 1977–1990

The essay argues that the European phenomenon of football hooliganism should be discussed in the context of the process of internationalization and standardization of youth subcultures. In outlining general developmental steps soccer hooliganism in Austria is being discussed to illustrate this argument. The essay distinguishes three different ‘fan-generations’ which came into being in a context of changing social conditions especially regarding the social circumstances, the situation of the job market, a changing security policy, changes in the sport itself as well as general international influences. Focusing on the specific internal structures of the different fan cultures the essay describes each of these ‘generations’ separately and tries to answer the following questions: Can we detect fundamental changes in the styles, norms and moral standards of the fans within these subcultures since they first appeared in the seventies? Can we detect changes in the environment which the fans live in, and, if so, in which way do these changes affect the fans? Can we detect generation gaps within the fan-population? In which way does the change from one generation to the next proceed? Finally, the essay gives a description of the present situation, which is characterized by the existence of a ‘postmodern’ mixture of various styles. Against a generally peaceful background a tendency of a new (self)destructive violence can be seen among very young (13, 14, 15 years of age) supporters in the cities of Vienna and Linz.

Melby, S. The High North in Future US Security Policy. Cooperation and Conflict, XXV, 1990, 41-58

The Reagan administration's policy and interests concerning the situation in the North are described in this article. This is followed by an analysis of the major domestic and international bases for Reagan's security policy with its emphasis on the US Navy and Forward Maritime Strategy. On this basis, the possible changes in US and international security policy in the years ahead are analyzed. With this broad perspective as a starting point the possible future US policy and interests in the North are analyzed. It is concluded that several factors indicate an increased US interest in the North.

A Democratic Revolt? Stability and Change in Danish Security Policy 1979-1989

Holm, H.-H. A Democratic Revolt? Stability and Change in Danish Security Policy 1979-1989. Cooperation and Conflict, XXIV, 1989, 179-197. The events in many European countries following the intense security debates since 1979 have revitalized arguments about the relationship between democracy and security policy change. From Tocqueville onwards, many have argued that security policy should be shielded from the democratic process. An analysis of Danish security policy content and the decision-making process in the years 1979-1989 is used here to provide an answer to this debate. Representation, participation and information are used as indices for the democratization of Danish security policy, and it is concluded that despite a clear trend towards increased participation and information, both the content of Danish security policy and the decision-making process have remained stable.

Reagan's National Security Legacy

As the Reagan presidency draws to an end, speculation grows as to its legacy in various areas, from domestic economics to international politics. The current study takes as its focus the Reagan legacy in the area of national security policy: specifically, the possible effects of Reagan's defense spending and Soviet policies. Using the global political-economic simulation model GLOBUS, a set of Reagan-like budgeting and foreign policies are formally implemented within the model and the resulting changes in behavior systematically evaluated. Two versions of this scenario are examined. In the first, it is assumed that the Reagan policies represent a permanent shift in the American position, while in the second case these policies are seen as a temporary aberration, remaining in effect only as long as Reagan is in the White House. Beginning with the political effects of these policy changes on Soviet-American relations and the national security of the two superpowers, the study then expands its focus to changes in the budgeting behavior of the United States and the impact on the domestic economy. These changes in American national security policy reverberate strongly throughout the political-economic system, though their effects are neither as uniformly positive as the supporters of these policies would claim nor as consistently negative as the critics profess.

Economy in Flux — Security Suspended. Foreign Economic Relations and Security Policy for Nordic NATO

Despite the spectacular economic changes in the international system and in Denmark, Norway and Iceland since 1945, the security policies of these countries have been remarkably constant. On the basis of a juxtapositioning of the conflicting trends of development in the international economic and political system, it is predicted that security policy in these three NATO countries to the North is up for change in the future. Three scenarios, based on present economic tendencies, are outlined: 1. International integration through renewed US dominance; 2. Split up into economic- political regions; 3. Collapse of the international economic system. The resulting changes in the security policy of each of these three states are indicated and discussed.

What New Look in Defense?

Recalling the abrupt changes in American national security policy in 1953 and 1961, we may well ask: What New Look should we expect now? What should we want? Changes will probably emerge more temperately and slowly than they did in those years. To our friends abroad, over-sensitized as they have become to policy modifications, this prospect should be reassuring. Much as they tend to sympathize with dissent within the United States over Vietnam, they realize that our domestic furor over this tragic war threatens to induce a generalized neo-isolationism. Arguments for neo-isolationism have a powerful appeal, but tend to cloud debate about the real issues for long-term security policy choice: what doctrine, military force structure, budgets, and plans?