International Social Welfare Research Articles

An inductive content analysis of international social welfare syllabi at national and public universities in Japan: Towards a glocal subject design

ABSTRACT To address global and local issues, the development of education on international social work and international social welfare is required in Japan. This study aims to identify the trends in and content of subjects related to international social welfare at national and public universities in Japan and use the findings to develop subject design. National, prefectural and other public universities that offered subjects related to international social welfare (n = 11) were selected for a syllabi analysis. The objectives and goals of each subject and the content of each planned class were coded through inductive content analysis by using qualitative data analysis software (MAXQDA). Common perspectives and topics were found despite the varying subject content. The findings concerning subject objectives and goals indicated that sample syllabi tended to include a multifaceted perspective and a view of relativisation. Based on the findings, we developed a subject design that includes a ‘glocal’ perspective on international social work.

Varieties of populism

AbstractContemporary discussions of populism elide important distinctions between the ways in which populist leaders and movements respond to the failures of elites to follow through on the promises associated with international social welfare constitutionalism. After laying out the political economy of populisms’ origins, this Article describes the relation between populisms and varieties of liberalism, and specifically the relation between populisms and judicial independence understood as a “veto point” occupied by the elites that populists challenge. It then distinguishes left-wing populisms’ acceptance of the social welfare commitments of late twentieth century liberalism and its rejection of some settled constitutional arrangements that, in populists’ views, obstruct the accomplishment of those commitments. It concludes with a description of the core ethnonationalism of right-wing populism, which sometimes contingently appears in left-wing populisms but is not one the latter’s core components.

세계시민사회 실현을 위한 종교 간 대화와 협력 : 국제인권의 종교적 비전과 사회복지실천에 관한 연구

세계시민사회 실현을 위한 종교 간 대화와 협력 : 국제인권의 종교적 비전과 사회복지실천에 관한 연구

Education in the UAE: the relevance of international human rights law and social welfare for a sustainable economy

Taking into account the strategic importance of education for the economic and social welfare, as well as the origins and meaning of the right to education in international human rights law, this paper examines the relevance of the right to the UAE and analyses the key elements that emerge from the UAE's engagement with the UN treaty bodies and special procedures, specifically, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Special Rapporteurs on racism and on the sale of children. Moreover, outlining the meaning of the dialogue undertaken by UN human rights bodies, its significance for promoting the role of the UAE in the international community and its relevance for advancing UAE education in a range of spheres, this paper examines their recommendations and suggests pathways towards enhancing dialogue and adopting a rights-based approach to education in the UAE.

Education in the UAE: the relevance of international human rights law and social welfare for a sustainable economy

Education in the UAE: the relevance of international human rights law and social welfare for a sustainable economy

국제사회복지 역량중심 교육과정개발에 관한 연구

본 연구는 사회복지의 영역에서 변화가 나타나고 있는 국제사회복지의 역량있는 인재를 육성하기 위한 교육과정을 개발하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 사회복지기관의 환경적 변화하는 국제사회복지에 대한 요구를 증가시켰고, 그로 인해 국제사회복지에 대한 교육의 필요성이 증가하였다. 본 연구는 국제사회복지직무에 필요로 하는 역량이 무엇인지를 살펴보고 이에 따른 역량중심의 국제사회복지 교육과정을 제시하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 현재 직무에 따른 교육과정을 사회복지 NCS직무와 사회복지교육, 국제개발협력기관의 업무와 사회복지NCS, 그리고 NCS와 국제사회복지교육과정을 비교분석하여 제안하였다. 기관홈페이지에 제시된 직무와 채용공고를 토대로 국제개발협력기관의 직무를 파악하고, 교육과정은 사회복지지침서에 제시된 사회복지의 교육과정을 중심으로 파악하였다. 본 연구에서 제시한 국제사회복지의 직무역량을 강화시키는 교육과정의 핵심교과목은 다음과 같다; 인권과 사회복지, 국제사회복지, NGO와 국제개발협력, 북한지역개발, 제개발협력과 ODA, PCM(Project Cycle Management), 평가와 모니터링, 국제사회복지세미나, 국제사회복지실습, 국제사회복지인턴십, 지역사회복지론, 프로그램개발과 평가, 사회복지윤리와 철학, 사회복지실천기술론, 다문화 사회복지, 빈곤과 사회복지, 사회적 기업과 제3섹터, 사회문제론 등이다. The purpose of this study was to develop a curriculum for international social workers. Due to the changed circumstances of social welfare agencies, the demand for international social welfare and the need for suitable training for social welfare education agencies has increased. This study explored the job competency of international social welfare and suggested a competency-based curriculum for international social welfare. Researchers analyzed the social welfare NCS, social welfare curriculum and job of international development cooperation agencies and presented a combined curriculum for international development cooperation and social welfare. The findings are as follows: the core subjects of international social welfare are "Human Rights and Social Welfare", "International Social Welfare", NGOs and International Development Cooperation", "the North Korea Development Project", "International Development Cooperation and ODA", "PCM (Project Cycle Management)", "Evaluation and Monitoring", "Seminars in International Social Welfare", "International Social Welfare Practicum", "International Social Welfare Internship", "Community Welfare and Practice", "Program Planning and Evaluation for Social Welfare", "Social Welfare Ethics and Philosophy", "Skills and Techniques for Social Work Practice", "Multicultural Social Welfare", "Poverty and Social Welfare", "Social Enterprise and the Third Sector", "Social Problems", etc.

The Implications of Sex Tourism on Mens Social, Psychological, and Physical Health

This article explores sex tourism and possible concerns for the male sex tourist through a content analysis of sex tourism web sites. This qualitative, exploratory study describes the manner in which sex tour web sites attract and maintain male customers. Findings related to men’s psychosocial health are placed within an international context. Recommendations are made that pertain to international social welfare.

International Income Comparisons and Social Welfare: Methodology, Analysis, and Implications

This paper contributes to ongoing debates on international income comparisons by decomposing the income distribution functions for the United States and Canada over the period 1993 - 2000 using finite mixtures. We also conduct tests for equality, first, second and third order stochastic dominance to determine which, if either, country might exhibit greater social welfare, which in our baseline case we model simply as expected utility. Overall, our results suggest that Canada exhibits higher social welfare than U.S., principally because it exhibits lower income inequality, thereby confirming a conjecture by Joseph Stiglitz which was the motivation for our study.

International Marriage Migrant Women's human rights issues and social welfare model of integration

International Marriage Migrant Women's human rights issues and social welfare model of integration

Migrant Remittances and Household Wellbeing in Urban Zimbabwe

Evidence from household surveying in December 2005 in Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, indicates that a wide network of international migrant remitters are ameliorating the economic crisis in Zimbabwe by sending monetary and in-kind transfers to over 50 per cent of urban households. The research combines quantitative measurement of scale and scope, with demographic and qualitative narrative to build a holistic picture of the typography of receiving and non-receiving households. A complex set of interrelated variables helps to explain why some households do and others do not receive income and goods from people who are away, and the economic and social extent of their subsequent benefit from them. Moreover, the mixed methods approach is designed to capture inter-household and likely macroeconomic effects of how households receive their goods and money; and of how they subsequently exchange (if applicable), store and spend it. Evidence emerges of a largely informal, international social welfare system, but one which is not without adverse inter-household effects for some. These include suffering exclusion from markets suffering from inflationary pressures, not least as a result of other people’s remittances. This paper explores the role of remittances, within this internationalised informal welfare system which we can map from our household survey, in reframing vulnerability and marginalization differentially among and between our subject households.

Cancer Disparities in the Federated States of Micronesia: Funding Challenges of a Developing Nation in Epidemiological Transition

This article describes funding and other challenges to cancer control in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and examines funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) as a critical facet in implementation of the U.S. Compact of Free Association (COFA). As a health-relevant policy, COFA commits the United States to improve the health of FSM citizens and, specifically, allows the FSM to apply for U.S. federal health FOAs. Emerging research suggests discrepancies in the intent and implementation of COFA and indicates that the capacity of the FSM to secure U.S. health funding may be at least partially hindered by the ways in which FOAs are structured. Current cancer-related FOAs were identified to evaluate their relevance to the FSM. Eligibility requirements of all FOAs were systematically reviewed and compared with FSM infrastructural and human resources. Findings indicate that most FOAs have requirements more likely to be met in fully developed health service entities. Such requirements disadvantage the FSM when competed with the relatively more resource-rich U.S. states and health services systems. This situation predisposes the FSM to increased risk of disparate cancer outcomes. Highlighted is the need for distributive justice and specific efforts that enhance the health services infrastructure in the FSM and increase opportunities for resource-appropriate interventions. Findings provide considerations for those in international social welfare, public health, and other disciplines interested in the advancement of global health partnerships to eliminate cancer disparities in underresourced nations.

Performativity and helping professions: social theory, power and practice

Drawing on Judith Butler's conception of ‘performativity’, we would argue that the notion has important implications for contemporary debates in international social welfare over agency, subjection and ‘resistance’. Professional social workers embedded in discursive institutions function according to particular expectations around performativity. In addition, this organisational context is complex with multiple demands. In light of technologies of surveillance and control in contemporary social work, performativity offers a response to the pressing need to expand notions of worker opposition beyond traditional forms of organised dissent towards the production of subjective space.

Cultural context and social technology transfer: the case of Canton, China

This research examines social technology transfer by taking into account the role of cultural context – the interplay between geography, maritime trade, role of the state and foreign intercourse. The southern port city of Canton, China is the focus, and provides a case study to examine why Western merchants and missionaries came to this particular location to transfer various social technologies, i.e. hospitals, insane asylums, schools, colleges and homes for the blind. The relevance of these institutions to the development of China's social welfare is considered in terms of Canton's shifting welfare mix. Implications of this case study are considered relevant to critical understanding of international social welfare from an East–West perspective.

The formation of international social welfare ethics between the First and Second World Wars : British and American private initiatives and social programs of the League of Nations

The formation of international social welfare ethics between the First and Second World Wars : British and American private initiatives and social programs of the League of Nations

Review of <em>Lessons from Abroad: Adapting International Social Welfare Innovations.</em> M. C. Hokenstad and James Midgley (Eds.). Reviewed by Doreen Elliott.

Book review of M. C. Hokenstad and James Midgley (Eds.), Lessons from Abroad: Adapting International Social Welfare Innovations. Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers Press, 2004. $44.99 papercover.

Katherine Kendall: A Social Work Institution

Katherine Kendall has been one of the leaders in social work education and especially international social welfare for more than 50 years. She was a founder of the Council of Social Work Education and later became its Executive Director. She became the first salaried secretary-general of the International Association of Schools of Social Work in 1972. Now, older than 90 years, she is still active as a published author and is often an invited speaker at national and international conferences. Her early career and personal decisions reflect feminist values in the context of the Depression Era, World War II, and the postwar period. She is a powerful role model for women today and especially for active, positive aging.

Studying Comparative and International Social Welfare Policy on the Internet

Studying Comparative and International Social Welfare Policy on the Internet

Book Review: International Social Welfare in a Changing World

Book Review: International Social Welfare in a Changing World

Human Rights and the Global Economy: A Response to Meyer

Human Rights and the Global Economy: A Response to Meyer * Jackie Smith (bio), Melissa Bolyard (bio), and Anna Ippolito (bio) While few scholars and officials today believe the simplistic notion that economic progress automatically brings about political and civil freedom, many think that such progress will automatically enlarge the social welfare of all citizens. This theory, which is widely held in the West, is an obstacle to the development of national or international social welfare law since it denies the need for rights to social welfare. 1 I. Introduction In his 1996 article in the Human Rights Quarterly, William Meyer examined the relationship between the presence of transnational corporations (TNCs) [End Page 207] and human rights practices within developing countries. 2 The evidence he examined supported his claim that direct foreign investment in a country is positively associated with favorable civil, political, social, and economic human rights practices. Meyer’s analysis used a sample of approximately fifty developing countries to examine correlations between transnational corporate presence and measures of both first- and second-generation human rights practices. While Meyer’s statistical findings showed consistent, positive relationships between levels of direct foreign investment (DFI) and human rights, there is reason to examine additional evidence in order to further test this relationship. Although the predominant economic logic would anticipate the findings Meyer showed, it would be dangerous to conclude that there is a necessary association between transnational corporate investment and human rights if no such relationship exists. This conclusion would contribute to even greater complacency among policymakers who seem all too eager to enter into international trade agreements, thereby facilitating the free flow of capital at the expense of state authority to mitigate the negative social and environmental effects of economic development. Even a cursory overview of recent major events related to transnational corporate activity and human rights suggests that any relationship between these two would be negative, or nonexistent at best. For instance, uprisings in Nigeria’s Ogoniland protesting environmental destruction by Shell Oil, a British TNC, have led to widespread and violent repression of the Ogoni minority and to the execution of Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa. 3 Not only has Shell failed to use its economic leverage to put pressure on Nigeria’s military government to reverse the coup and restore Nigeria’s democratically elected leaders, but it has also provided economic and military assistance to this antidemocratic government, thus enabling the government to maintain its repressive policies. Another example is the ongoing case in US courts between Texaco, the US-based oil transnational, and indigenous peoples in Ecuador. This case centers around Texaco’s alleged responsibility for polluting indigenous land and poisoning water sources during its years of operation there between 1967 and 1990. 4 Finally, other TNCs like Nike have only moved to adopt minimalist labor rights standards after consumer groups have drawn attention to abuses such as child labor, low wages, and [End Page 208] unhealthy labor practices. 5 The fact that these cases exist suggests that TNCs are not always beneficial to human rights. Therefore, further exploration of the relationship between TNCs and rights becomes necessary. 6 II. Theories of TNCs and Human Rights Meyer reviewed two antithetical approaches to thinking about the relationship between TNCs and human rights. The “engines of development thesis” dates back to the post WWII-era belief that economic development automatically would generate improved human rights practice. 7 An alternative approach, the “Hymer thesis,” 8 argues that the very structure of TNCs will contribute necessarily to widespread impoverishment and to human rights violations. The division of labor within the transnational firm leads to uneven development concentrating management activities in major, industrialized cities. As a result, poverty becomes concentrated in the areas removed from these urban centers where the firm’s productive activities take place. This dual track necessitates repressive policies to control potentially explosive populations. Thus, TNCs encourage repressive government policies to suppress labor demands and promote stability. 9 Along similar lines, Pauline Herrmann asserts that there is a conflict of interest in state-TNC relationships. 10 This conflict of interest results from the fact that governments have the dual responsibilities of protecting and insuring quality lives for their citizens...

The Old Country Service School: Gender, Class, and Identity and the YWCA's Training of Immigrant Women in International Social Welfare Philosophy, 1919

In April 1919, the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) created the Old Country Service School (OCSS) to train foreign‐born women in American social welfare philosophy. The YWCA expected OCSS students to help rebuild war‐torn Europe. A study of the school's curriculum and students provides an interesting examination of gender, class, and identity as they related to international peace efforts during the interwar years.