Social Protection Reforms Research Articles

Marketization and social protection reform: emerging HRM issues in China

This paper explores the human resource issues raised by China's current reform of its social protection regime. We examine a number of propositions at the core of the debate surrounding the relationship between globalization and social protection. It is concluded that globalization is compelling the government of China to construct a social protection system that is compatible with a market regime; many employers are evading their responsibilities and the state has been compelled to adopt countervailing regulations that can restrain this behaviour; China's decision to integrate into the world economy need not have a negative impact on the overall level of social protection available in other nations; and common social protection rules are affecting firms in highly divergent ways that reflect their ownership and industrial character and their specific labour market needs.

Book Review: Labor-Management Relations: Labour Market and Social Protection Reforms in International Perspective: Parallel or Converging Tracks

Book Review: Labor-Management Relations: Labour Market and Social Protection Reforms in International Perspective: Parallel or Converging Tracks

Labour Market and Social Protection Reforms in International Perspective: Parallel or Converging Tracks?

Labour Market and Social Protection Reforms in International Perspective: Parallel or Converging Tracks?

Marketization, globalization, and social protection reform in China: Implications for the global social protection debate and for foreign investors

The form of social protection embraced by a country can have a significant impact on the management strategies of firms and on the attractiveness of a nation as an investment site. Focusing on the situation in Shanghai, this article examines social protection reforms being introduced in China and identifies some possible implications for the global social protection debate and for investors operating in China. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Labour Market and Social Protection Reforms in International Perspective – Parallel or converging tracks?

Labour Market and Social Protection Reforms in International Perspective – Parallel or converging tracks?

Rethinking corporatism and consensus: the dilemmas of German social-protection reform

This article explores the competing influences of institutional legacies and political negotiation in recent German social-protection reform. Long a paragon of consensus and gradual political change, the German political economy has adjusted poorly to the pressures of fiscal austerity and structural unemployment, creating pressures for an increasingly salient role for the federal government. The article provides a detailed analysis of recent German social-policy and labour-market reforms, arguing that existing literature is poorly equipped to account for this emerging policy-making paradigm. It also suggests that, while the German case illustrates the importance of institutional factors in shaping reform trajectories in advanced industrial democracies, careful attention must also be paid to élites' capacity for negotiating policy outcomes within these parameters.

Book Review

Book reviewed in this article:Hedva Sarfati and Giuliano Bonoli, Labour market and social protection reforms in international perspective: Parallel or converging tracks?

Colombie : un pari encore incertain

Yves Le Bonniec — Colombia : an uncertain bet The recent Colombian attempt to ensure universal health insurance stems from a political conjuncture featuring social protection reform as solution to a serious political legitimacy crisis. Engaging in such a program have been impossible without this particular historical context, which draws the limits of the reform. The universalising process focuses on health insurance coverage to groups with no access to the contributory scheme. The implementation of this program reveals the ambiguities and constraints of a politically driven process that simultaneously aims at health protection and poverty reduction. Finally, by using structural analysis to several welfare regimes, one may outline the paradigm likely to shape the Colombian social protection system.

Reclaiming Welfare: The Politics of French Social Protection Reform

Abstract As the 1995 wave of strikes has powerfully shown, the French welfare state is currently the object of a political struggle between sections of the labour movement and the government. In this article, we look at the politics of the current transformation of the French social protection system. First, we describe the key features of welfare institutions; second, we look at the debate on the socio-economic problems that welfare is currently facing. Finally, we focus on how these issues appear in the political debate, through an analysis of interview data of influential political actors and a discussion of the 1995 Juppé plan, which provides the framework for future reforms. Our conclusion is that the current transformation process cannot be interpreted as simply a movement towards the restoration of financial equilibrium. Instead, it affects the very structure of the French model of welfare by promoting a shift from Bismarckian social insurance towards a non-employment based, state-controlled system.

Pressures and transformations of the Turkish welfare regime

The state, the family and the market are the main pillars of welfare regimes that have different configurations from one country to another. In Turkey, these mechanisms are under increasing pressure today. The family seems unable to extend protection beyond the nuclear household. In addition to that, support to rural employment and urban housing, deployed through clientele networks, decline. Wage insurance, as a way of accessing the social protection system, is also challenged by the characteristics of the labour market. We argue that the structure of employment is increasingly incompatible with the existing welfare system framework, which is mainly centred on formal workers insurance. In this context, will the current pensions and health reforms lead to a better articulation between employment forms and the social protection system? The first part of the article analyzes the evolution of the labour market since the 1990s. Recent adjustments of this market take place in the context of structural changes in the regulation of labour relations and of the economic model. The second part of the article examines social protection reforms. We analyse first parametric adjustments in the case of pensions (retirement age, period of contribution and replacement rates), and secondly, measures adopted to ensure universal access to health care and services. We argue that other forms of insurance and/or assistance might be necessary to increase the scope and depth of coverage. The last section explore three possible transformations of the Turkish welfare regime: increased labour market flexibility, a more important role of private insurance and the scope of social assistance mechanisms.