Handbook on East Asian Social Policy EDITED BY MISA IZHURA Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2013. ISBN 978-0-85793-028-6; £160.00 (hbk).Gender and Welfare States in East Asia: Confucianism or Gender Equality? EDITED BY SIRIAN SUNG AND GILLIAN PASCALL Basingstoke

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-418
Author(s):  
Neil Lunt
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Edward Elgar

Explaining Social Policy Adoption in South Korea: the Cases of the Medical Insurance Law and the Minimum Wage Law

1999 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAEHYUN JOO
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
South Korea ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Medical Insurance ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Economic Management ◽  
Insurance Law

Although policy priority has always been on economic management in East Asian countries, those countries also developed some notable social policies. However, explanations for the development of social policies in those countries have been relatively underdeveloped compared to those of their economic management policies. This study adds to our understanding of the social policy development in East Asia by examining two cases of social policy adoption in South Korea – the Medical Insurance Law and the Minimum Wage Law. This Korean case study shows a pattern of policy development primarily driven by particular ‘interests’ (state elites' perceived political survival needs and their reputation in international society), with ‘environmental’ factors and ‘policy legacies’ playing a supplementary role. In particular, these policies are interpreted as anticipatory concessions to moderate members of Korean society by the state elites who aimed to stabilise their regimes by separating radicals from moderates. In addition, the medical insurance scheme is understood as a by-product of the competition between the South and North Korean regimes. This study also draws our attention to such issues as the similarities and differences between the East Asian welfare regimes and the change and continuity in the development of social policies in East Asia.

Introduction: social investments and welfare reform in Europe and East Asia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Timo Fleckenstein ◽  
Soohyun Christine Lee ◽  
Young Jun Choi
Keyword(s):  
Social Issue ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
The World ◽  
Cautionary Tales

This chapter brings together leading experts from across two world regions, Europe and East Asia, to discuss social investment strategies — currently one of the most influential policy approaches around the world. It tackles some of the key challenges faced by contemporary welfare states — namely greater social inequality and the decline in social mobility. By inviting a number of authors to address the same social issue using different country cases (rather than just examining cases side by side), the chapter not only deepens our understanding of varieties of social investment strategies, but also discusses how some of the drawbacks connected to social investment may be overcome. The chapter shows that, despite remarkable differences, at the level of the problems associated with social investment measures, the countries studied also show significant similarities. Ultimately, it presents the case studies of East Asian countries which provide important lessons for benchmarking or cautionary tales for more established Western welfare states as well as the emerging welfare geography in the Global South.

Explaining Welfare State Adaptation in East Asia: The Cases of Japan, Korea and Taiwan

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyu-Jin Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
North East ◽  
Social Policy Reform ◽  
State Regime ◽  
Welfare Production

Abstract A growing volume of literature suggests that the countries in North-east Asia are defying the productivist logic that has underpinned their welfare state regime. This article aims to unfold the developmental trajectory of welfare states in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. By combining structural accounts and political explanations of social policy reform, it discusses continuity and changes in the role of social policy over a stretched period of time. It then argues that although there has been significant change made to social policy in the region, structural conditions and the politics of expansion associated with them are yet to amount to a shift in the core foundation of their welfare production logic. The market-conforming role of social policy in East Asia has been persistent and, paradoxically, this explains their resilience against the forces of economic liberalisation.

End of the Era of Productivist Welfare Capitalism? Diverging Welfare Regimes in East Asia

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young Jun Choi
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
Welfare Capitalism ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
State Regime ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Welfare Politics

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of recent transformations in East Asian welfare regimes, applying a ‘real-typical’ perspective, based on the ‘productivist welfare capitalism’ thesis of Ian Holliday (2000). Unlike Western welfare-state regimes in which the politics of austerity has dominated, the politics of welfare expansion has been noticeable in East Asian welfare regimes. This paper will analyse whether these changes have fundamentally dismantled the productivist feature where social policy is subordinate to economic objectives. While the trajectories are different depending on different political institutional contexts, this study shows that there are two strong signs that these states are moving out of their productivist nature and also that they are in the process of establishing their own welfare states. Japan seems to still be a productivist welfare-state regime struggling to accommodate rapid socio-economic changes, whereas Korea is a welfare state regime with strong liberal characteristics via modern welfare politics. Since the needs for social policy expansion in China correspond to economic and political needs, the productivist feature has been significantly weakened. However, this study argues that these transitory welfare regimes are in critical stages of formulating their new welfare regimes and that welfare politics based on contingent events could affect the future trajectories of these regimes.

The Colonial Documentary Film in South and South-East Asia

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Documentary Film ◽  
East Asian ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Historical Perspectives ◽  
The Third ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Global Understanding

Writing from a wide range of historical perspectives, contributors to the anthology shed new light on historical, theoretical and empirical issues pertaining to the documentary film, in order to better comprehend the significant transformations of the form in colonial, late colonial and immediate post-colonial and postcolonial times in South and South-East Asia. In doing so, this anthology addresses an important gap in the global understanding of documentary discourses, practices, uses and styles. Based upon in-depth essays written by international authorities in the field and cutting-edge doctoral projects, this anthology is the first to encompass different periods, national contexts, subject matter and style in order to address important and also relatively little-known issues in colonial documentary film in the South and South-East Asian regions. This anthology is divided into three main thematic sections, each of which crosses national or geographical boundaries. The first section addresses issues of colonialism, late colonialism and independence. The second section looks at the use of the documentary film by missionaries and Christian evangelists, whilst the third explores the relation between documentary film, nationalism and representation.

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