Despite very different beginnings, China and America now have a great deal in common in how social policy provision is organized

At the beginning of the latter half of the 20th century, policy approaches in China and the US to providing social benefits, such as education and health care, were very different. China's model was one of centralized control, while in the US a state-based approach to implementing social policies was favored. In new research, Daniel Béland, Philip Rocco, Shih-Jiunn Shi and Alex Waddan compare how the provision of social policy in China and the US has evolved. They find that both countries have converged to a point where the central government formulates and (in the US case, pays for) social policy while states and provinces play a major role in how those policies are implemented

Old-age pensions and life course in rural China : the emergence of modern retirement?

Shi S-J. Old-age pensions and life course in rural China : the emergence of modern retirement?. Bielefeld (Germany): Bielefeld University; 2007.Since the outset of the economic and social reforms in 1978, rural China has been undergoing fundamental changes in view of the relationship between the state, society and the individual. Social policy, not least pension policy for rural residents, has been an essential factor in this transformation process influencing the life chances of many peasants. This study deals with the relationship between social policy and individual life courses in the context of the Chinese reform process. By studying the rural pension policy, the study focuses on the power of social policy in shaping the life planning of social actors, testifying to the nexus between social institutions and human lives - first established by European life-course research for Western societies - in rural China. Main arguments of this study are that the introduction of the rural pension policy has led to the emergence of a modern "life course", namely an institutionalized temporal structuration of the life span and related orientations of action on the part of Chinese peasants. Modern "life course" denotes the emergence of a temporal partition between work and retirement. The traditional idea of ceaseless toil until death is giving way to a conscious arrangement for a life phase after work. The institutionalization of a life course is a crucial aspect of modernization in which the state policy plays a pivotal role. Both social security and life course have become formative institutions in present-day rural China. This study integrates theoretical insights from European life-course research which emphasizes the close relationship between social security institutions and the life course. Based on expert interviews and biographical interviews with peasants conducted in selected areas of rural China, this study seeks to trace the institutional development of rural pensions and to identify the variety of ensuing life-course patterns by constructing a typology of individual life courses with regard to securing old age. Furthermore, in order to explore the interaction process between pension policy and the life course, this study constructs a second typology that elucidates the diversity of meaning peasants attach to the biographical significance of pensions in their individual life arrangements. The theoretical and methodological application of the life-course approach sheds new light on a neglected aspect of both the institutional and the individual dimension of the modernization process in rural China

Changing Dynamics of Social Policy in the People's Republic of China and the United States of America

Social policy in China and the United States has been undergoing great transformation in recent decades, especially in the interaction between the central government and its subnational units. This article offers an account of the changing dynamics of social policy in both countries in light of the relationship between federalism and the welfare state. Given their federal political institutions, social policy in PRC and USA essentially concerns which government tiers are responsible for social provision. I argue that the fragmented nature of Chinese and American political institutions has led to two distinct social policy developments with their recent decentralization (or devolution) endeavors, with local governments in China gaining more autonomy while the federal government in America retains its prominent role in social provision. Different degrees of local government involvement also create various momentums in social policy that have profound implications for central coordination and local capacity in policy implementation

Changing Dynamics of Social Policy in the People's Republic of China and the United States of America

Social policy in China and the United States has been undergoing great transformation in recent decades, especially in the interaction between the central government and its subnational units. This article offers an account of the changing dynamics of social policy in both countries in light of the relationship between federalism and the welfare state. Given their federal political institutions, social policy in PRC and USA essentially concerns which government tiers are responsible for social provision. I argue that the fragmented nature of Chinese and American political institutions has led to two distinct social policy developments with their recent decentralization (or devolution) endeavors, with local governments in China gaining more autonomy while the federal government in America retains its prominent role in social provision. Different degrees of local government involvement also create various momentums in social policy that have profound implications for central coordination and local capacity in policy implementation

The Emerging New Social Policy Paradigm in China: Reframing State-Society Relations

Social management has arisen as an essential political agenda during the Hu-Wen era, and received particular attention in the 12th Five-Year Plan launched in 2011. At its core lies the idea of public administration by involving a variety of societal sectors and organizations in various policy realms while maintaining the legitimate rule of the Communist Party. In the realm of social protection this managerialist approach is particularly pronounced. The state-led pluralization of welfare provision during the 2000s envisions a new governance mode toward a public-private mix, with the state establishing a regulatory framework that allows economic and social actors to provide social service. This new policy approach differs significantly from the ‘socialization’ approach taken during the 1990s that merely shifted social welfare responsibilities from the state to markets and families. Based on an analysis of recent developments in social security and social service for migrant workers, this article discusses the characteristics of the new welfare mix promoted by the idea of social management, and analyzes the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the new policy framework. While the state recognizes the importance of societal sectors in welfare provision, its (still) predominant role as a provider and a regulator has inevitably crowded out the space it initially intended to leave for non-state agencies. Moreover, the strong technocratic nature of social management focuses primarily on the political goal of crafting social order and maintaining social stability, and thereby is prone to neglect the real need of participating social actors and welfare beneficiaries. The collaboration of public-private welfare provision by social management may end up merely co-opting social actors into taking responsibility for meeting welfare targets over which they have scant influence, while providing little support for them to thrive and prosper that could really foster public-private collaboration in social security

Taiwan’s Social Policy Response to Covid-19: Protecting Workers, Reviving the Economy

Taiwan has benefited from her timely response to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, which has limited the extent of economic and social damage the virus could have inflicted. Unlike many countries, economic activities and social lives in Taiwan have remained above water; and have shown signs of rebounding in recent months. Past experiences with public health crises such as SARS have offered valuable lessons for the government to cope with similar pandemic threats. Effective countermeasures have created favourable circumstances for the government to deploy social policy as a safety net. Almost all the major responses are of a temporary nature, and a programmatic extension of the existing social security institutions (e.g., social assistance and specific in-cash benefits targeted at specific occupational or population groups). In addition, the government granted financial support to those enterprises in difficulties to disincentivize them from dismissing their employees. All these measures have largely offset the adverse consequences of the pandemic crisis. Against this backdrop, Taiwan should be amongst those countries to recover first from the pandemic shock.