SW23A: Introduction to Social
Policy Development
Globalisation and Social Policy
1
Objectives
 Explaining the current developments in
Caribbean social policy
 Delimiting the paradigmatic shifts
 Analysing the impact of globalisation and
community participation in social policy
 Examining the needs of vulnerable groups
including the disabled and children
2
Paradigms
 Traditional (Prevailing)
 Latent / Emergent – arising from economic
pressures due to the introduction of Structural
Adjustment and Stabilization programs of
1980s

Perhaps a mixture of the best features of the two
might achieve greatest efficiency & efficacy
3
Paradigms

Important Dimensions to be Considered When
Comparing both Models








Institutional Forms
Decision-making process
Financing
Objective
Criterion re priorities for expanding system
Beneficiary population
Approach
Indicator used
4
Institutional Form
Traditional (Prevailing)
State monopoly of all social
services
Finance
Design
Implementation
Control
Unified functions performed by
state
Emergent
Multiple sub-sectors (Welfare
Pluralism involves many actors)
State
Private (commercial)
Philanthropic (NGOs)
Informal (family)
Separate functions e.g. commercial
involvement in public insurance and
pension schemes.
Govt. sets
regulatory framework and rules for
investment but allows firms to manage
public funds.
5
Institutional Form
Traditional (Prevailing)
Emergent
All decisions taken Decentralization – Advantages
Government/Federal -leads to tailoring of solutions for
particular needs,
-greater attention paid to rural areas,
Advantages
–
Govt.
takes -encourages local participation, advantage of economies of scale, allows for greater choice in
ensures standard quality, especially solutions,
when
local
agencies
lack Disadvantages
capacity/skills.
-local regions may lack capacity and
Disadvantages
may
favor could cause quality variations in
dominant groups in capitals/main social services provided in each
area
towns and ignore rural areas
- one size does not fit all, local - poor areas may not generate
differences/needs
cannot
be enough tax revenue to support all
services required.
addressed.
6
--limited public participation possible
Centralization
at
Central
level.
–
Centralization
 Centralization can lead to inefficient
resource
allocation,
favouring
of
dominant/well-organised
and
vocal
groups located in capital or main towns,
inhibited participation by citizens; cost
implications for service users (members
of the public travel time etc.) and for
service providers (HSOs must transport
goods to various locations if bulk buying is
used).
 Susceptible to corruption.
7
Advantages of Decentralization
• Advantages of Decentralization
greater social consensus – local
participation benefits
greater control of bureaucracy
smaller scales could mean greater
opportunity for cost-benefit
analysis
paves the way for widespread
development of system-wide
capabilities.
8
Disadvantages of Decentralisation
• Disadvantages of Decentralisation
local autonomy in providing social
services could lead to some
unacceptable variations in the
standards of services delivered.
increased research (offset by
increased relevance of policy and
programme), monitoring and
evaluation costs.
9
Decision-making process
Traditional (Prevailing)
Emergent
Bureaucratic
By projects presented by endusers
Macro-strategies
“Innovative capacity
“The State knows what to do”
exists throughout society
Users have no say or choice in the
type of service provided by State
and every effort should be
made to take advantage of
it” (Franco, 1996)
- Resources allocated
administratively
- Resources allocated competitively,
tendering used
- Allocation of funds proposed by
users
e.g.
(Jamaica
Social
Investment Fund, CHASE Fund) 10
Financing – Source of Resources
Traditional (Prevailing)
Emergent
The State covers all costs – from Co-financing
–
private
sector
fiscal sources which must meet invlovement e.g NCB paying exam
multiple, growing demands
fees, school subsidies; tax rebates
received in exchange for help.
“No Charge = No good”: – view that
anything provided free tends not to be
fully appreciated by recipients
Recovery of costs: “He who can pay
should pay” – cost sharing in schools
and hospitals
Risk: marginalization of the poor,11 as
they may be unable to pay user fees
Financing – Resource Allocation
Traditional (Prevailing)
Emergent
Subsidization
of
supply,
e.g. Subsidization of demand – e.g.
subsidies on food items like rice, oil giving vouchers to the poor to buy
chicken, or using price controls
basic food items or pay for education
or PATH which pays school fees for
- Absence of competition, all firms poor directly to the school once the
family selects school
must charge the same price
Creation of quasi-markets
-Those who do not need the benefit - Allows competition and freedom to
(middle and upper classes) receive choose
it.
- Users must have enough
information to select among service
providers
12
Objective – Universality?
Traditional (Prevailing)
Emergent
Universal supply
Universal satisfaction of
people’s needs
- High cost, Low impact especially
among those who need it most.
E.g. Govt provides free primary
education to all but there is low
attendance in rural areas. Also
now free secondary tuition – no
impact on attendance.
Principle of Equity “Unequal treatment for those who
are economically and socially
unequal” – affirmative action /
positive discrimination
supply
for
- Homogeneous supply to all Homogenous
situations
only
favours those who are best- heterogenous
informed and best organized . E.g. perpetuates the original differences
NHF heavily used by middle class.
13
Criterion re Priorities for expanding system
Traditional (Prevailing)
Gradual expansion of social
protection as more resources
become available
-Top down, those who need it most
often last to receive help
(Franco
refers
to
this
as
Segmented access)
Emergent
The neediest first
Instrument: targeting the poorest
Targeting allows improvement in
programme design as the more
accurate the identification of the
problem and nature of the
beneficiaries, the easier to design
specific interventions. Targeting
“Less social expenditure = less
also ensure more efficient use of
scarce resources and increases
equity”
e.g. NIS not given to those who impact of the programme by
did not contribute regularly over concentrating resources on the
14
highest-risk groups.
their working life
Criterion re Priorities for expanding system
Traditional (Prevailing)
Emergent
- Attention given to what the –
identifying
potential
sources of funding want.
beneficiaries as precisely as
possible & designing programme
to ensure major per capita impact
on selected group
15
Beneficiary Population
Traditional (Prevailing)
The middle class
Organised groups who have the
capacity to pressure the state
Emergent
The poor – often do not benefit as
much as the middle classes from
government spending.
Reality is that their situation is dire
16
Approach
Traditional (Prevailing)
Centered on the means – e.g.
expanding the coverage of services
provided
- Increasing Social infrastructure
and current Expenditure e.g.
building more schools
Emergent
Centered on the ends
Impact: Quality of service
- How much did beneficiaries
actually receive when compared to
original objectives?
- Has poverty been reduced? By
how much?
Evaluation of
achievement of programme goals
17
is critical
Indicator Used
Traditional (Prevailing)
Emergent
Size of Public social expenditure – Cost-impact ratio –were resources
efficiently used, was there max
Expenditure may be high, but not impact for minimum cost?
efficiently used, (mainly salaries)
also
programmes
poorly What were the measurable
implemented
increases in HC, and at what cost?
18
Implications
• Under the traditional paradigm, there is
prevailing view that more resources
available means more persons were
helped or that the system lowered the
number of poor persons.
• Necessary
to
disaggregate
social
expenditure and analyse the real
beneficiaries.
• Cost-impact ratio is recommended in
Emergent paradigm - optimization of
resource use.
19
GLOBALISATION
20
What is Globalisation?
 Globalisation
can be viewed as the
increased
international
economic
interdependence and interconnectedness of
world markets and societies facilitated by
rapid advances in communication and
transportation technologies.
21
What is Globalisation?
 Often referred to as creation of the “global
village”
 Not a new phenomenon, globalisation has
occurred in waves. The first wave1800s
to 1930s (colonial period).
 The volume of the flow of goods and
capital in the 1800s was only exceeded by
the wave of globalisation of the late 1970s
22
Distinctive Features of the Latest
Wave of Globalisation (mid 1970s --)
 Change from nationally organised economic
activity/growth
to
globally
organised
economic activity e.g. World car vs. German
car. (See article on Red Stripe on OURVLE)
 The rise of huge transnational corporations
(TNCs) some of which are larger than
individual states.
 TNCs which dominate markets can exert
great pressure on governments .
23
Distinctive Features of the Latest
Wave of Globalisation (mid 1970s --)
 Transnational corporations (TNCs)
also
called
multinational
companies.
 A transnational, or multinational,
corporation has its headquarters in
one country and operates wholly
or partially owned subsidiaries in
one or more other countries.
24
Distinctive Features of the Latest
Wave of Globalisation (mid 1970s --)
 The subsidiaries report to the central
headquarters.
 The growth in the number and size of
transnational companies since the 1950s
has generated controversy because of
their economic and political power and
the mobility and complexity of their
operations.
25
Distinctive Features of the Latest
Wave of Globalisation (mid 1970s --)
 Some critics argue that transnational
corporations exhibit no loyalty to the
countries in which they are incorporated
but act solely in their own best interests.
26
Distinctive Features of the Latest
Wave of Globalisation (mid 1970s --)
 Growth of regional trading blocs, NAFTA (1994),
EU (1993), CSM (2006), Mercusor (1991), Andean
Pact (1969)
 Underlying philosophy – Economic Neo-liberalism,
open markets and free trade. (Ferguson, Lavalette
et al, 2002).
 Asian tigers held up as examples of export-driven
success stories, but McMichael, (2004) points out
that these countries, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong
Kong and South Korea began as centrally planned
not liberalised economies.
27
Distinctive Features of the Latest
Wave of Globalisation (mid 1970s --)
 Growth of regional trading blocs, Nafta,
EU, CSM, Mercusor, Andean Pact
 Mercosur was established in 1991 and
encompasses Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay
and Uruguay. Venezuela was accepted as
a member in 2006 and is currently in the
process of integrating into Mercosur.
28
Distinctive Features of the Latest
Wave of Globalisation (mid 1970s --)
Andean Pact – The Andean
Community is the regional integration in the
Andean countries consisting of Bolivia,
Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, along with
some associate and observer countries
also located in Latin America that was
started in 1969 with the signature of the
Cartagena Agreement creating the Andean
Group with the objective of creating a
customs union and a common market.
 The
29
Distinctive Features of the Latest
Wave of Globalisation (mid 1970s --)
 In 1979 the Andean Council of Foreign
Ministers was established at the Andean
Tribunal and the Andean Parliament in
Bogotá.
 In 1985 the Andean Parliament agreed to
the establishment of the Andean University
Simon Bolivar located in Sucre, former
capital Bolivia.
 In 1993 it established the free trade area;
1995 the Andean countries adopted a
Common External Tariff.
30
Distinctive Features of the Latest
Wave of Globalisation (mid 1970s --)
 Structural adjustment programmes (SAPs)
opened economies in the South and
accelerated the process of globalisation for
those countries.
 Underlying belief of globalisation is that
increased trade will benefit all nations - “a
rising tide lifts all boats”. Some economies
were not able to withstand foreign
competition associated with open markets,
e.g. local manufacturing and agriculture in
Jamaica.
 Free trade, is not necessarily fair trade.
31
Features of Globalisation
 Spread of US cultural influence and value
systems via internet and cable TV.
 Increased culture of individualism (each
man for himself approach) seen in
Caribbean
nations,
undermines
collectivism and community spirit.
32
Main Actors
 GATT – General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
Created in 1947 after WWII. Aim was to reduce
tariff barriers, quotas and trade subsidies
 World Trade Organisation established Jan 1995product of the GATT Uruguay Round. WTO is
the major institution in process of globalization.
WTO Trade rules are enforceable, it can punish
member states for violation.
 WTO has power to regulate all aspects of trade agriculture, investment, intellectual property,
services Many groups worldwide oppose the
WTO.
33
Main Actors
 WTO rules based on theory of comparative
advantage - Specialize in production of goods
which can be produced efficiently and import
other goods.
 Small island developing states (SIDS) lack
economies of scale, and adequate subsidy
protection to produce most goods more
efficiently than other countries.
34
Main Events Affecting Caribbean
 NAFTA – 1994
 Led to demise of Jamaica’s
garment sector
 Factories relocated to Mexico
 Job losses for low-skilled women
free-zone
 CARICOM – CSM
 Winners and losers, Jamaica is a net importer
from CARICOM, imports far exceed exports
 Trinidad emerged as dominant economic
power, largely owing to its subsidized energy.
OECS has formed economic union with
T’dad, planning to move to political union.
35
Main Events Affecting Caribbean
 WTO 1997 ruling against EU LOME Banana regime
– led by Bill Clinton on behalf of Dole and Chiquita.
Preferential tariff treatment by EU deemed in
violation of WTO rules




Major economic fall-out in the Windward islands,
Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines,
Dominica
Increase in poverty in Windward islands
Economic collapse of Dominica led to IMF agreement
Jamaica ended its banana exports to EU in 2008
partially due to lower earnings and repeated hurricane
damage. Major unemployment fallout in banana
36
parishes.
Main Events Affecting Caribbean
 WTO 2004 ruling against EU LOME sugar
protocol – led by Brazil, Thailand and Australia
 EU forced to phase out preferential arrangement
with ACP sugar producers which included dutyfree access for agreed quantities of sugar and a
guaranteed price approximating that applied for
European beet farmers
 Agreement phased out between 2005-2009
37
Main Events Affecting Caribbean
 Trinidad
and St. Kitts ended sugar
production
 Jamaica cut sugar production, made some
workers redundant, divested factories
 B’dos producing more high-end speciality
sugars for hotel/tourist market.

Moving to diversify into ethanol production
38
Main Events Affecting Caribbean
 Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) – Oct
2008 with EU
Based on reciprocity, not the one-way
preferential access of LOME
 Some items excluded and delayed phase-in for
others
 Wide-ranging, includes trade in services,
government procurement, investment rules
which were not part of LOME
 May influence negotiation with Canada and US
who intend to negotiate FTAs with Jamaica.

39
Globalisation Opportunities
 Increased availability of a wider array of
technologies, goods and services.
 Increased competition leading to lower costs
in some sectors, e.g. cellular competition
between Lime, Digicel and Claro
40
Globalisation Opportunities
 Increases access to investment capital, but
most Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has
gone to developed, not developing nations.
 Many Third World countries lack the capacity
to absorb FDI, i,e. good physical
infrastructure, highly skilled workforce etc. –
Note Intel’s Costa Rican example.
41
Globalisation Opportunities
 Third World nations are more dependent
on FDI to generate growth than First World
nations with FDI accounting for a larger
share of their GDP (15% vs 9% for First
World countries (Hann, 2007).
 Globalisation has increased economic
growth of some countries, but not at
rates faster than in previous decades
(Hann, 2007)
42
Challenges/Concerns
 “Race to the bottom” –resulting from intense
competition among states to attract FDI from TNCs.
Countries offer lower wages for labour, lower
corporate tax rates, (in Jamaica gov’t offers 100%
tax holidays to some investors, e.g. those who build
hotels).
 Also sees less enforcement of occupational health
and safety standards, environmental protections also
union busting or suppression, e.g. collapse of buildings
and injury/death of workers at Bahia Principe hotel site in St.
Ann due to lack of adequate safety measures. Also hotel site
was deemed an environmentally protected area but building
43
permit was still issued by the GOJ.
Challenges/Concerns
 Race to the bottom - Use of Child labour
especially in Asian countries
 Global Capital flows liberalised but
labour has seen increased controls/
immigration laws.
 Movement of capital causes labour
dislocations E.g. NAFTA led to closure
of factories and relocation of jobs to
Mexico, Jamaican workers could not
relocate to keep those jobs.
44
Challenges/Concerns
 Has
increased international inequality
between and within nations, as some
sectors collapse while others emerge,
especially in Africa, Caribbean and Latin
America (McMichael, 2004, Hann, 2007)
 Increase in poverty among marginalised
groups, e.g. ethnic minorities (Hann, 2007)
and the low-skilled
45
Challenges/Concerns
 Reduction of government tax revenue
e.g. from lower import tariffs/duties.
 These duties are often not used to
protect competing local products, e.g.
car import duty, but to generate revenue
to fund social services.
 TNCs often avoid paying corporate tax
locally by locating global headquarters
in tax havens e.g. Amazon and Apple.
46
Challenges/Concerns
 Trade liberalisation pressures from WTO/
IMF/WB led to increased agricultural
imports and collapse of local agriculture in
the South - increased rural poverty.

New global movement focused on food
sovereignty has emerged to revitalise local
farming in Southern countries (McMichael,
2004). In Ja this is seen in the “grow what
we eat and eat what we grow campaign”.
47
Challenges/Concerns - Labour
 Increased long-term unemployment due to
relocation of jobs to cheaper manufacturing
sites or closure of industries like banana and
free-zones
 Job-less and job-loss growth – economic
growth often associated with job losses as
global competition forces firms to increase use
of labour-replacing technology to increase
“efficiency”.
 NB: Zuboff’s Catch-22
48
Challenges/Concerns - Labour
 Increased migration of skilled workers,
(brain drain in Jamaica) and illegal
migration of unskilled workers.
 Huge
exploitation of undocumented
workers worldwide.
Not only of
Caribbean, African and Latino workers
in US/EU but also Haitians exploited in
Dom Republic and Jamaica. Many
often work in near slavery conditions.
49
Challenges/Concerns - Labour
 Informalisation and Casualisation of Labour
–firms move to temporary or part-time
contracts with few or no benefits, limited
union protection, (McMichael, 2004)
 Concepts of workplace being a life-time
employer with full-time work, pensions and
social and legal protection, perks and
benefits is fast becoming extinct.
50
Challenges/Concerns
 These
labour market changes will require
provision of more social protection and social
security, e.g. safety nets, health insurance, and
pensions by states.
 However loss of tax revenue may limit what
governments can offer. Residualization of some
aspects of welfare often results e.g. cost sharing.
 Recent expansion in universal social services in
Caribbean have been done to address increases in
inequality and build human capital e.g. free health
care in Jamaica, free tertiary education in T’dad
51
Challenges/Concerns
 Increase
in
global criminal networks
facilitated
by
technology
advances,
undermines state control.
 Globalisation also said to cause loss of
local cultural identities and distinctiveness Ritzer’s McDonaldization thesis.
 McDonaldization has been successful
because of four basic dimensions.
McDonaldization
offers
consumers
Efficiency (2) Calculability (3) Predictability
and (4) Control.
52
Challenges/Concerns
 Deskilling - A work force with the minimum
abilities possible to complete simple
focused tasks. This means that they can be
quickly and cheaply trained and are easily
replaceable.
 Workers on an assembly line that are hired
and trained to perform a single highly
rationalized task. Although this may be a
very efficient method of operating a
business, an irrationality that is spawned
53
Challenges/Concerns
 TRIPS
(Trade Related Intellectual Property
Rights) – trading regulation of the WTO limits
the production of affordable generic drugs to
combat diseases, e.g. generic HIV drugs
needed by poor countries
 TRIPS criticized for not recognising traditional
knowledge developed by small societies in the
development of patented pharmaceuticals

E.g. Neem Tree in India; patents registered by
US and Japanese companies.
54
Challenges/Concerns
 GATS - General Agreement on Trade in
services. Jamaica is a signatory to that WTO
agreement which requires liberalisation of
trade in services including health and
education markets.
 Clause requires that education subsidies
given to local Universities should also be
extended to foreign colleges. If implemented
this could result in a withdrawal of subsidies to
local colleges incl UWI and higher tuition fees
55
Globalisation of Social Policy
 Globalisation of Social Policy – Occurs
when global governance structures like the
UN, World Bank, IMF and WTO exert
greater influence on states policy making
direction (Yeates, 2001)
 Proliferation of international treaties since
1970s – Third World states urged to ratify
by UN e,g. Convention on Rights of Child,
UN Millennium Development Goals –
(students should be aware of MDGs)
56
Globalisation of Social Policy
 “Social policy contributes to governance and
renewed legitimation of the State, but its
importance today lies above all in its contribution
to the formation of human capital, which is
indispensable
for
the
medium-term
competitiveness of our countries.” (Franco in
CEPAL Review 58, April 1996)
57
Globalisation of Social Policy
Benefits
 International treaties have brought many
important social issues to local attention
e.g. gender discrimination, human rights
abuses, child issues, disability concerns
(Yeates, 2001)
 Sharing of policy initiatives globally leads
to increased standardisation in areas such
as human rights, public health systems
and child protection.
58
Globalisation of Social Policy
 Sharing of “best practices” builds capacity
in social service delivery in the South.
Drawbacks
 Bias in policy directives towards Western
approaches often overshadows local
expertise, or are not culturally relevant.
 Imposition
of global social policy
frameworks like MDGs reduces national
sovereignty and constrains social policy
making.
59
Globalisation of Social Policy
 Funding agencies like UNICEF, UNDP
tie grant/loan funds to Millennium
Development Goals which may not be
the priority areas for a government.
E.g. primary education is already
universal in Jamaica, secondary
education is not.
 Neo-liberal approach institutionalised
60
Political Impact
 Globalisation led to a consolidation of the
ideology of neo-liberalism and of AngloAmerican capitalism as the dominant economic
system – this is being rejected in aftermath of
current recession, as US and EU businesses
turn to their states for bailouts, also many South
American countries have been embracing
socialist policies e.g. Venezuela
 High youth unemployment leads to alienation in
among youth –feel helpless in the face of global
market systems leads to increase in anti-social
behaviours, terror groups (McMichael, 2004)
61
Thinking Point:
Which House of Government? –
Robert Campbell, Chairman of Tasmania Together Progress Board
 Partnerships – Govt/TNCs/Community
 Control and Rules
 Inside directs outside
 Consultation and Customer Service
 Strategic planning begins, but in back rooms
 Connections and Collaborations – outside
starts directing inside

Gov’t. not sole provider of solutions


Strategic planning with community
Gov’t. as facilitator
62