Introduction
This assignment is a discussion on the topic of Globalisation, Social Policy and Social Provision. In the discussion, I have defined and explained what social provision is, how it emerged and how it relates to social policy and globalisation.
The discussion also looks at various actors and polices in social provision, how effective they have been and the challenges as well as the possible way forward. The discussion draws from various readings as well as on internet resources.
Discussion
Social provisions can mean different things to different people and in different countries. This is because of the historical economic, political and social differences between different countries world-wide. But generally, social provision refers to the provision of welfare services to citizens of a country.
The concept has got its origin from the English poor law act, which required churches and other charity organizations to provide the poor with basic needs including food, shelter and clothing (Deacon 25).
Based on its history, the concept is mainly used to refer to the provision of welfare services to the less fortunate in the society, basically the elderly, the disabled, orphaned children and people in difficult situations.
The nature of social provision in developing and developed countries however differs in terms of definition, scope and the target beneficiaries. In the developing countries which are characterized by high levels of poverty, almost over 50% of all citizens are in need of social provision (Deacon 25).
In these countries, social provision is mostly done by non-governmental and charity organizations, with the governments playing a marginal role in the same.
In the developed countries on the other hand, majority of the citizens are able to provide for themselves, and therefore the nature of social provision is a matter of governments’ responsibility to all citizens rather than a privilege given by the governments to some segments of the population (Deacon 25).
Social provision constitutes of provision of social services like education, social security, food, shelter among other social necessities. It may take the form of direct cash given to the beneficiaries, subsidizing services or goods, or giving vouchers to those who are targeted by the social provision programs. In the developing countries, the access to social welfare services is based on some eligibility criteria.
This can be attributed to the high number of deserving people. Such criteria may include things like extreme poverty, old age, orphan hood, destitution or displacement by ethnic, civil strife or political violence which are prevalent in these countries (Deacon 25).
In the national context, social provision programs take care of the unique needs and priorities of a particular country irrespective of the service provider. The providers are usually the governments and other non-governmental organisations.
In the global context, social provision takes the form of policies, treaties and charters, which are aimed at dealing with certain global problems, through the provision of certain social services in all countries of the world.
The providers are manly international bodies like the United Nations (UN), the World Bank and international monetary fund (IMF) also known as Breton woods institutions and other like-minded partners (Deacon 25).
Social provision became an issue of global concern especially after the world wars. Globalisation has played a crucial role in internationalisation of social provision. Social provision has been seen by many global social policy analysts as being related to the new world order, which is a system of governance which roots for the establishment of a world’s government in total disregard to traditional State sovereignty.
This has made the issue of social provision not only a social one, but also a political and economic issue, characterised by politics of domination between the North (the developed world) and the South (developing world) (Deacon 25).
Basically, social provision is aimed at addressing the social, economic and political inequalities between the rich and the poor in society. In a strict sense therefore, social provision can be explained as a communist ideology or way of thinking. However, with the capitalistic consumerism inherent in many countries of the world, it becomes a challenge to effectively implement an idea which is communistic in nature (Deacon 25).
In many countries which are not able to provide social services to their citizens, the international community plays this role. The main players and drivers of social provision are the Breton woods institutions and other United Nations’ affiliated institutions like United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Health Organisation (WHO) among others (Deacon 25).
However, the approach used by these institutions has been explained by critics as a neoliberal capitalistic model, which appears very good in paper and as if constructed to end social inequalities, but in practice achieves the opposite, that is, it leads to increased poverty and social inequalities.
In fact, many global social analysts attribute the ever unending social and economic inequalities between the global North and the South to these very institutions (Deacon 25).
In Africa for example, many polices have been implemented by these institutions but with little or no positive impact on the citizens. They began with the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) in 1980s and 1990s (Dibua 40).These programs were designed to promote economic growth in the developing countries so as to enable the governments to provide social services to the people without difficulties.
The polices were based on the liberalization of trade, promotion of commercial instead of subsistence agriculture, elimination of price controls, privatization of state corporations, the fight against corruption, promotion of good governance, respect of rule of law and human rights.
On meeting these conditions, African countries were to receive debt waivers as well as qualify for direct donor funding in various sectors like education and health (Dibua 40).
The programs were however not effective because they actually led to the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor as well as to hunger due to the adoption of export based agriculture at the expense of subsistence agriculture.
After the failure of the SAPs to reduce poverty and social inequalities in the developing world, what followed was the introduction of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), which were aimed at coming up with unique polices and strategies to fight poverty in the developing countries. However, PRSPs did not succeed due to the capitalistic formulation and implementation of the strategies (Dibua 40).
Recently, in the wake of the millennium, the global institutions came up with what they referred to as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which composed of eight key gaols and twenty one targets which were to be achieved by many countries by the year 2015.
Among the key objectives of the MDGs was to halve world’s poverty by 2015. These gaols were to be achieved through the collaboration of the governments of the developing countries with these institutions on key areas especially education and health, which were believed to be crucial in reducing poverty (United Nations 17).
In the developing countries however, these gaols have not been gradually achieved as envisaged before mainly due to lack of governments’ commitment and the failure of these institutions to support the governments in the developing world.
Instead of supporting the governments in the developing world to achieve these goals, these institutions together with powerful nations like the United States have stuck to their traditional carrot and stick tricks in their collaboration with these governments (United Nations 17).
To illustrate this argument is the Education for All (EFA) policy, which was initiated by the World Bank and UNSECO in 1990 (worldbank.org). This policy was aimed at ensuring that every citizen in the world is able to benefit from education. The policy was first tested in Thailand and aimed at ensuring that by 2015, the world would have achieved a 50% adult literacy as well as improvement of girl child education (worldbank.org).
The policy picked up but without much success. In order to reinforce their commitment to the policy, the World Bank and UNESCO convened two meetings in Dakar Senegal in 2000, which culminated in the adoption of the policy by over 189 countries. These institutions also adopted millennium development goals number two and three, which are in line with EFA objectives (worldbank.org).
With over 20 years since the initiative of EFA was initiated, over 70 million children, who have attained the age of going to school are not doing so mainly due to financial problems as well as Hiv/Aids and high fertility among girls, who account for over 40 million in this population of 70 million(worldbank.org).
Despite this trend, the policy has achieved some significant progress in attainment of goal number three, in that out of 163 countries, 47 have already achieved universal primary education. The challenge remains in countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which are unlikely to attain universal primary education and gender parity by 2015 (worldbank.org).
A positive global social agenda can be set by the international community, through the United Nations. This is because the United Nations is the only institution with a global appeal, based on its history in its efforts in fighting poverty, disease, and ignorance as well as in maintenance and restoration of peace in the world (mirror.undp.org).
One example of a UN policy is the millennium development goals, which was adopted by the United Nations in September 2000. The millennium developments goals, as I have mentioned were basically formed to reduce poverty in the world through initiation of programs which promote education and eradicate disease (mirror.undp.org).
Since their initiation, many developing countries have embraced them by initiating programs which are geared towards the achievement of the millennium development goals. One such country is Kenya, which is a developing country found in East Africa. In 2003, the Kenyan government developed economic development blue print strategy known as Kenyan vision 2030 (mirror.undp.org).
This vision is composed of three main development pillars namely the social, political and economic pillars. These three pillars are in line with the millennium development goals. Through the initiative, the country managed to reduce poverty in the country from 55% in 2000 to 45% in 2006 (mirror.undp.org).
One of the key players in the reduction of poverty is the United Nations development program (UNDP), which is affiliated to the United Nations. UNDP, in partnership with the Kenyan government has initiated several projects in the North Eastern part of the country which is semi-arid. The key projects include education and water projects (mirror.undp.org).
The projects have positively impacted on the people of North Eastern, especially the young people, who have been able to access education in the schools and more importantly, water, which is very scarce in that region. The residents have been able to water their animals, which are the only economic activity in the region thus reducing the levels of poverty (mirror.undp.org).
One global social policy coalition which I’m familiar with and where governments work with NGOs and International institution to address a social issue is the international justice system, which advocates for respect of social, political and other forms of rights, liberties and privileges for all citizens by their governments. Respect for human rights is both a legal and a social issue.
It is a legal issue based on the universal declaration of human rights. Most of these rights are contained in constitutional documents as bill of rights in many countries and therefore their violation becomes prohibited under the law.
Respect for human rights is a social issue because the abuse of human rights, like the right to express oneself, the right to education, health and other basic social amenities is not only dehumanising but also curtails citizens’ abilities and opportunities to live as social beings.
The international criminal system is a global policy, which is aimed at ensuring that governments or politicians do not violate the rights of their citizens. The system is based on the Rome statute, which forms the international criminal court based in The Hague at the Netherlands. The court was formed to punish perpetrators of political and ethic violence, corruption cases, genocide and gross misuse of power.
The court works in conjunction with governments to provide evidence of abuse of human rights. It also works in collaboration with civil society organisations and NGOs, majority of which are concerned with advocacy and fight for equality, equity, justice and fairness in all spheres of life irrespective of cultural, racial, gender, religious and social economic differences in the society.
The system has been investigating different leaders of the world including Omar el Bashir of Sudan, Pinochet of Yugoslavia as well as other leaders responsible for various human and social atrocities across the globe.
Conclusion
In conclusion, social provision has been a global agenda for some time now. It has gone to great lengths in fostering global unity and collaboration in trade, education, and fight against poverty, poor health, terrorism, and injustice among other threats to healthy social life.
However, the problem with the current and previous approaches to the issue of social provision is that they have not done much to ameliorate the social inequalities in the world, especially the disparities between the North and the South as well as the gap between the rich and the poor in society. This has been so due to the neoliberal approach to global social policy and agenda, which is characterised by consumerism capitalism.
The way forward in setting a positive global agenda is first of all acknowledging the fact that the current policies have either completely failed, or are doomed to fail.
The global policy makers should therefore be bold enough to rise above selfish interests and address issues the way they are; which would involve dedicating adequate resources, technology transfer and empowerment of the poor especially in the developing countries for them to be able to fight poverty, disease and ignorance.
Such polices should not be based on the hypocritical principle of carrot and stick, but rather on full dedication, both in letter and spirit by the rich nations to help the poor ones out of poverty. The key sectors which need to be worked on include good governance, respect of human rights, the fight against corruption, protection of the environment and enhancement of education and health.
These would ensure that the citizens of developing countries are empowered and have access to opportunities to realize and maximize their full potential for their growth and development. This would in turn ensure that the governments are in a position to provide social services to all citizens irrespective of their social, economic, political and educational differences.
Works Cited
Deacon, Bob. Global Social Policy & Governance. Markham (Toronto), ON L3R 4L9: SAGE, 2007:25. Print.
Dibua, Jeremiah. Modernization and the Crisis of Development in Africa: The Nigerian Experience. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006:40. Print.
United Nations. Claiming the Millennium Development Goals: A Human Rights Approach. Annapolis, MD: United Nations, 2008: 17. Print.
UNDP. Millennium development goals in Kenya. UNDP Kenya. Web.
World Bank Group. ‘Education for All (EFA)’. World Bank. Web.