Democracy and Social Policy

This book examines the conditions under which democratic regimes can deliver adequate social protection to citizens as well as how social policy aids democratic consolidation.

This book examines the complex relations between democracy and social policy. Economic development is a necessary but not sufficient condition for welfare development. In industrial democracies, differences in the reach and organization of unions, presence of Left parties in government, and social pacts, account for much of the variation in welfare provision among countries. Social security is limited in democracies with low levels of industrialization, even though some countries with a social democratic orientation seem to have done well. Traditions of political rights, improvements in electoral competitiveness, and a pro-active judiciary may empower social movements to pressure governments in low-income democracies to introduce progressive social reforms.

YUSUF BANGURA is a Research Co-ordinator at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) where he has co-ordinated projects on structural adjustment, public sector reform, ethnic inequalities and public sector governance, racism and public policy, technocratic policymaking, and democracy and social policy. He has published widely on these issues, including on the politics of international economic relations, and taught political science in universities in Nigeria and Canada. He is currently coordinating UNRISD’s project on poverty reduction and policy regimes.

Democracy and Social Policy Development: Introduction and Overview–Y.Bangura & C.-J.Hedberg * Democratization and Social Policy Development in Advanced Capitalist Societies–J.D.Stephens * Democratization and Social Policy Development in Japan–T.Shinkawa * Democratization and Social Policy in Southern Europe: From Expansion to ‘Recalibration’–M.Ferrera * Democratization and Social Policy in East Central Europe–T.Cox * The Latin American Social States: Critical Junctures and Critical Choices–F.Filgueira * Democracy and Well Being in India–N.Chandhoke * Democracy and Social Policy in Botswana–N.Keitseope * The Ballot Box and Social Policy in Mauritius–S.Bunwaree * Democracy and Social Policy in Jamaica–J.Jones