Legislating and implementing welfare policy reforms: What works politically in Africa and why?

立法和实施福利政策改革：什么在非洲政治上有效？为什么？

基本信息

批准号：
ES/J018058/1
负责人：
Jeremy Seekings
金额：
$ 50.93万
依托单位：
University of Cape Town
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2012
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2012 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FJ018058%2F1
关键词：
Legislating implementing welfare policy reforms

项目摘要

This project falls primarily under the previous Call (in 2010) on "Inequality and Development".Social assistance programmes - including 'social' pensions, conditional and unconditional cash transfers, and workfare through public employment programmes - have attracted considerable attention as a mechanism for reducing poverty and inequality, and stimulating development in the global South. Little attention has been paid, however, to the politics of programmes that "just give money to the poor". This research project will analyse how and why social assistance programmes are adopted in different parts of Africa, drawing comparisons with Brazil and India. The central question is "what works and what doesn't work politically?", i.e. what makes reforms politically feasible and sustainable? The research will examine, for selected countries across Southern, East and West Africa, each stage of the policy-making and implementation process. How do ideas get onto the policy agenda? What shapes elite and public opinion on reforms? Under what circumstances do reforms become salient electorally, or in competition between or within political parties? What influence do civil society organisations, aid donors or international agencies exert over policy-making? How are reforms affected by legislative, executive or bureaucratic procedures within the state? In short, what factors favour and what factors impede policy reforms? The goal is to understand why policies are not adopted as much as why they are and the final form that they take.The research will pay particular attention to the ways in which socio-economic inequalities and ethnic or racial differences affect the politics of welfare reforms. Economic inequalities ironically make it fiscally easier to reduce poverty gaps through cash transfers. Politically salient ethnic or racial differences are generally understood to impede programmatic policy-making. The combination of the two (as in South Africa) might make it politically easier to introduce reforms, if visible and effective poverty reduction is expected to reduce social and political tensions. Through a comparison of different countries, this research will inform an understanding of the political mechanisms through which socio-economic inequalities and regional or ethnic differences affect the political feasibility of welfare reforms. This research will be conducted through a combination of existing research conducted through UCT, supplemented with focused new research in selected countries. Existing research foundations include a review of policy across the region, case-study research on reforms in South Africa, surveys of public opinion (through Afrobarometer and other research), legislative processes (through the African Legislatures Project), cross-national studies of public expenditure on health care programmes, and the relationships between civil society and public policy-making. New empirical research will focus precisely on elite and public opinion on welfare policy reforms, political processes with respect to welfare policy-making in state and civil society, and the determinants of expenditure on welfare programmes in the selected countries. The project will contribute new understanding of how poverty alleviation can be delivered in a range of settings, including how the design of policies affects their political feasibility and the efficacy of interventions at different stages of the policy-making process. Whilst building on the strengths of a major research institution in the global South, the project will also help to build capacity there.

该项目主要属于先前的“不平等和发展”。社会援助计划（包括'社会''养老金，有条件和无条件的现金转移，以及通过公共就业计划的工作选择）吸引了相当大的关注，作为减少贫困和不平等发展的机制，以及在全球南部的刺激发展。但是，很少关注“只是向穷人捐钱”的计划的政治。该研究项目将分析非洲不同地区如何以及为何通过与巴西和印度进行比较的社会援助计划。中心的问题是“什么有效，什么在政治上不起作用？”，即是什么使改革在政治上可行和可持续性？该研究将对南非，东非和西非各个阶段的各个阶段进行政策制定和实施过程的各个阶段进行研究。想法如何进入政策议程？是什么对改革构成了精英和舆论？在什么情况下，改革在选举或政党之间或竞争中变得显着？民间社会组织，援助捐助者或国际机构对决策有何影响？该州境内的立法，执行或官僚程序的改革如何影响？简而言之，哪些因素有利于哪些因素以及哪些因素阻碍了政策改革？目的是了解为什么政策没有采用的方式以及他们采取的最终形式。具有讽刺意味的是，经济不平等使通过现金转移减少贫困差距更容易。通常认为政治上显着的种族或种族差异会阻碍计划制定的决策。如果可见有效的减贫有望减轻社会和政治紧张局势，这两者（如南非）的结合（如南非）可能会使政治上更容易引入改革。通过对不同国家的比较，这项研究将使人们了解社会经济不平等以及地区或种族差异影响福利改革的政治可行性的政治机制。这项研究将通过通过UCT进行的现有研究的结合进行，并补充了某些国家的重点新研究。现有的研究基础包括对整个地区的政策进行审查，南非改革的案例研究研究，公众舆论调查（通过非洲裔计和其他研究），立法程序（通过非洲立法机关项目），关于医疗保健计划的公共支出以及公共社会与公共社会与公共政策制定之间的跨国研究。新的实证研究将精确地关注精英和公众舆论，对福利政策改革，有关州和民间社会福利政策制定的政治程序以及所选国家福利计划的支出决定因素。该项目将对如何在各种环境中提供贫困的方式有所了解，包括政策的设计如何影响其政治可行性以及在决策过程的不同阶段的干预措施的功效。在全球南方一家主要研究机构的优势上建立了建立，该项目还将有助于在那里建立能力。