Transcript Folie 1 - Social Protection

Faculty of Sociology
Social World Regions
A Comparison of EU, ASEAN
and SADC
Ines Vitić (Dipl. Soz.)
University of Bielefeld, Faculty of Sociology, P.O. Box 100131, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany
Fon: +495211063975, Fax: +495211066474, [email protected]
Faculty of Sociology
Social World Regions
State of research:
- Global Social Policy (world regions get more
and more important in questions of social
policy)
- World regional studies
My critique
-
only looking at the political or economic level
Promote the EU as the best way (normative)
Promote the EU as the only way, how world regions
have to develop (idealtyp)
→ eurocentristic perspective
Indicators
World regions
welfare state
The social
social
without social
identity
social goals
√
√
√
√
-
social sector
√
√
√
-
√
social
regulation
√
√
-
-
-
The
democracy
institutional
arrangement rule of law
√
√
capitalism
√
sovereignty
√
Faculty of Sociology
Social World Regions
“The European Union in the Global North represents the
most advanced form of such regional integration. In
terms of supranational social policy it can be said that
the EU has an embryonic social policy in all the three
fields of social redistribution, social regulation and
social rights” (Yeates/Deacon 2006: 7).
“SADC has approached health issue on a regional basis,
and its gender unit has made progress in
mainstreaming these issues across the region.
ASEAN has declared that one of its purposes is to facilitate
the development of caring societies, and has a
university scholarships and exchange programme”
(Deacon 2007: 165).
European Union
Social goals:
Yes; social Charta, human rights
Social sector:
Yes; Labor market policy and protection,
health, education, consumer protection,
migration, equality, social security
Social regulation:
Yes; social terms of reference, open
method of coordination (health, pension)
Democracy:
Yes; a world regional parliament and all
member states are democratic
Rule of law:
Yes; a world regional Charta, a lot of term
of reference and a world regional court
Capitalism:
Yes; a world regional economic union, all
member states are capitalistic
Sovereignty:
Yes and no; In many policy fields but not
in the social policy sector (only an indirect
shift)
Association of
Southeast Asian Nations
Social goals:
Yes; social Charta, human rights,
millennium goals, poverty and inequality
reduction, social security, high standard of
living
Social sector:
Yes; Labor protection, labor market policy,
basic income security, age, unemployment,
health, education, poverty, food, consumer
protection
Social regulation:
?; plan of action, best practices,
coordination
Democracy:
No; no world regional parliament; not all
member states are democratic
Rule of law:
Yes and no; a world regional constitution
and many terms of reference, but no world
regional court
Capitalism:
Yes; free trade area (AFTA), but not all
member states are capitalistic
Sovereignty:
No; duty of unanimity
Southern African
Development Community
Social goals:
Yes; social Charta, high standard of living,
social justice, security, poverty reduction
Social sector:
Yes; HIV/AIDS, poverty, employment and
labor, gender, social dialogue, CSR, social
protection, education, food security
Social regulation:
?; plan of action (RISDP), best practice,
capacity building, regional funds
Democracy:
No; no world regional parliament, but
SADC Parliamentary Forum
Rule of law:
Yes; SADC Court (since 2007)
Capitalism:
Yes; Free Trade Area, Custom Union by
2010
Sovereignty:
No and Yes; subsidiarity, an indirect shift
by the SADC Court
Faculty of Sociology
Social World Regions
→ Is the EU a welfare state world region?
Problem: absence of a sovereignty shift in the social sector
and the absence of individual social redistribution
→ Is ASEAN a social world region?
Problem: the level of social regulation is underdeveloped
- A big gap between talk and action level
→ Is SADC a social world region? And on the way to a
welfare state region?
Problem: To fill the existing world regional structures with
life and power, to reduce the gap between talk and
action and to promote more sovereignty shifts
Faculty of Sociology
Social World Regions
Analytical problems:
• scope:
–
–
•
How extensive does the social sector have to be so
that you could speak of a social world region?
How extensive does the social regulation have to be
so that you could speak of a social world region?
decoupling:
–
–
Between talk and action level
Between world regional and member state level
Faculty of Sociology
Social World Regions
Thank you very much for your attention
&
the coming inspiring discussion