Ethiopian Civil Serves University

College Of Leadership and Governance

School of policy studies

Department of development policy

Course Title Fundamental of social policy (MSP5013)

Semester II

Program: masters (R)

Group six ID NO

Asrar Fedilu ECSU2202301

Diba Jilo ECSU2104270

Gelana Solomon ESCU2203294

Guyo Dima ECSU2202264

Mesfin Boyetu ECSU2203237

Mitiku Melka ECSU22021898

Submited to: Instructer Baharu G\ Yesus (PhD)

March 23, 2023

Adis Ababa, Ehtiopia

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 Chapter one

Historical development of social policy

In the 1980s and 1990s, the scope of social policy, focused on delivery of limited services and
welfare, was insufficient to achieve balanced social and economic development.

Social policy was considered residual, secondary to the focus on growth as then mainstream
development theory focused on “economic growth first”. This residual approach was dominant
for about two decades, and led to increasing social tensions and malaise.

On the contrary, today’s high-income economies invested heavily in social development, and the
populations of Europe, Japan, North America, Australia and New Zealand experienced a level of
prosperity unseen in history. Following their example, many developing countries also saw the
need to apply social policies as an instrument for nation building. UNICEF appealed for
“adjustment with a human face.” After having been pared to a minimum, social policies were
reconsidered during the 1990s with the renewed attention of development policies to poverty
reduction .Developed country, but also to achieve social cohesion and political stability. These
were well-intentioned initiatives by committed professionals but not adequate as lasting
solutions. These interventions did not address the structural causes of social tensions or build
institutions to ensure equitable and sustainable development, decent work and social cohesion

Social policy in developing country context

In most developing countries, the mixed record of state ineffectiveness, market imperfections,
and persistent structural inequities has undermined the effectiveness of social policy.

The New Frontiers of Social Policy Series extends the discourse on social policy beyond
conventional social service approaches, toward developmental policies and institutions for
improving equality of opportunity and social justice.

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Social policies are a subset of public policies that emerged originally in European nation-state.
Relatively little thought has been given for developing country and those thought are

 The current focus of social policy is on social sectors and safety-nets

 Designed largely as palliatives to mitigate the adverse social impacts of structural reforms
rather economic development.

Voices in developing countries have argued that social policy needs to promote broader
developmental goals of equity and social justice, rather than be limited to social services.

 social policy needs to address two major challenges

First, initial inequities in asset endowments and power structures

Second, globalization creates further inequities across countries

 The challenge for social policy is to increase

a) The assets and capabilities of individuals and

(b) The capacity of social actors to participate in development processes to achieve equity and
social justice.

Social policy framework needs to emerge through the creation of a policy space for social action
and the negotiation of a new social contract as part of a multi-stakeholder agreement in a
polycentric world.

Social Development Strategy, which espouses the three principles of inclusion, accountability,
and cohesion. The social policy debate allows us to refine this strategy further and restate the
objectives of social development as (a) the transformation of household welfare by investments
in human capital and assets of the poor to promote social inclusion; (b) the transformation of
institutions to make them more accessible, responsive, and accountable; and (c) the
transformation of subjects into citizens capable of claiming their rights and fulfilling their
responsibilities to foster social integration within society and an acceptable social contract with
the state.

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 Chapter Two

Does social welfare reduce poverty?

Poverty: the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material
possessions. Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs. In
this context, the identification of poor people first requires a determination of what constitutes
basic needs. These may be defined as narrowly as “those necessary for survival” or as broadly as
“those reflecting the prevailing standard of living in the community.” Social welfare program, any
of a variety of governmental programs designed to protect citizens from the economic risks and
insecurities of life. The most common types of programs provide benefits to the elderly or
retired, the sick or invalid, dependent survivors, mothers, the unemployed, the work-injured, and
families. Methods of financing and administration and the scope of coverage and benefits vary
widely among countries. When welfare program are well designed and implemented it would
reduce poverty by providing income for those in risk to increase level of their in then run
towards invest.

Welfare does not reduce poverty; it may actually increase it. The Census Bureau determines the
poverty status of a family by comparing the family's pre-tax cash income with a poverty
threshold that depends on family size and composition. Studies have shown that in welfare states,
poverty decreases after countries adopt welfare programs.

Criticize against social welfare

Poverty and unemployment rates have not been reduced, and social welfare policies have not
been successful.

• The opportunities provided for welfare caused negative effects on family structure, increased
divorce rates, and deteriorated moral values

• It has increased the taxes put on income and capital

• Social expenditures have increased

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 Does Social welfare modify social inequality? Yes
• Inequality is a property of the social welfare function that we incur, or not, when we
move from the measurement of the levels of welfare of each person to the calculation of
welfare of the whole set of people that compose a society. 

• The causes of social inequality include society's acceptance of roles, stereotyping, social
organization by class (or class systems) and economic disparity, as well as legislation and
political inequality.

• Welfare states have reduced the recent growth in income inequality by around two-thirds
through benefit systems and social transfer.

B) Does social welfare ensure against social risk? YES

• social risk factors – such as poverty, minority race and/or ethnicity, social isolation,
and limited community resources – play a major role in health, and significant gaps
remain in health and in life expectancy based on poverty, race, ethnicity, and community
environment.

• Social protection is, first of all, geared to reducing risk and exposure to risk. It
guarantees basic security and builds up basic capabilities through improved access to a
variety of social services, such as health care, education, housing and food provision.

E) Does social welfare have varying consequence on social stratification?

Welfare regimes influence the shape of stratification differently across nations. For example, one
type may cultivate status differences while another one may create dualisms between various
groups and yet another one promotes universal social rights 

Society is stratified into social classes based on individuals' socioeconomic status, gender, and
race. Stratification results in inequality when resources, opportunities, and privileges are
distributed based on individuals' positions in the social hierarchy

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Social stratification implies social inequality; if some groups have access to more resources than
others; the distribution of those resources is inherently un- equal. Societies can be stratified on
any number of dimensions

. D) Does social welfare foster expansion of social citizenship and

social right? Yes
The current model of the welfare state, whereby social citizenship is obtained, encourages
citizens to enter a “welfare market” in which they become consumers of welfare benefits,
especially benefits linked to health and social care.

As long as you received public benefits lawfully (without using fraud, for example), and were
not asked to repay them, it should not hurt or affect your eligibility for naturalization.

Marshall argued that there was a third aspect of citizenship, which he called social citizenship.
By this he meant that people should have, as of right, economic welfare and security and the
ability to live the life of a civilized being according to the standards prevailing in society at the
time. This idea became an important theoretical basis of the welfare state and the ideas of
collectivism, and fed into the more recent issue of international standards of human rights

Social rights mean social welfare and social security, right to education. Political rights
include voting and joining political parties and freedom to explain opinion in a democratic way.

All of these rights are provided by welfare state.

2, which welfare regime can be cited vital for developing country social
welfare development?

The discussion of welfare regimes in developing countries follows the seminal work of Esping-
Andersen's (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, which divides welfare state regimes
into liberal, conservative and social democratic regimes. The term ‘welfare regime’ refers to ‘the
entire set of institutional arrangements, policies and practices affecting welfare outcomes and
stratification effects in diverse social and cultural contexts’ (Gough 2004b: 27). Esping-
Andersen's work (1990) however, was criticized (e.g. Gough 2004b; Holliday 2000; Mitchell

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1991). One of the criticisms argues that Esping-Andersen's categorization cannot be used to
build the typology of social policy in developing countries. Therefore, welfare regimes should be
examined within the local context, namely, social policy systems in developing countries (Wood
and Gough 2006).

One significant step that places the regime in the context of developing countries is the
adaptation of the concept of welfare mix to welfare regimes in developing countries, as proposed
by Gough (2004b). ‘Welfare mix’ refers to the interactions of the state, private sector and
households in welfare provision (Gough 2004b: 26). Gough (2004b) modifies welfare mix from
the welfare state triangle of three actors, namely, state, market and family, into a square by
adding community as the fourth actor because community plays a key role in providing
livelihood security. The modification of the welfare mix brings the discussion of welfare regimes
closer to the context of developing economies (Croissant 2004).

3, Can we really have only one welfare regime typology which can
govern global social welfare principle? No
Every country in the world have own culture, religious, values and norms, economics and
political systems depend on that decide the welfare regime typology which is better for them.
Behind keeping in mind that blow this welfare regime typology is vital for global social welfare
principle.

 Liberal welfare regime typology

 Conservative welfare regime
 Social Democratic

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