This session will focus on challenges to and opportunities for social policy in the contemporary context. The discussion will revisit recent trends in development thinking (i.e., conceptual framing of “development”, such as revitalizing people-centred, inclusive development, equality and equity, values and norms emphasizing social justice, etc.), and identify challenges that will need renewed attentions from social development perspectives. It will also identify opportunities to strengthen social development, to address challenges, which will lead to a discussion on the broader social development framework.

Guiding Questions

  • What are new trends in development thinking?
  • In your view, what are the most pressing emerging challenges, and why?
  • Can current social policy frameworks effectively address these challenges? If not, what needs to be done and how?
13 Apr 2015 - 17 Apr 2015

Comments (54)

Vandôme

Afin de réfléchir à une nouvelle tendance sur le développement, j'intégrerais la satisfaction de la dignité pour chaque être humain.

Cette satisfaction de dignité ferait l'objet d'un indicateur basé sur l'acccès au confort en général se décomposant comme ceci:

- 1. Accès à la nourriture et à l'eau potable

- 2. Accès à un logement sécurisé (dormir en paix)

- 3. Accès au moyens de transport (se déplacer quand et où on veut)

- 4. Accès aux soins (être soigné en fonction de sa pathologie)

- 5. Accès à l'éducation

5 conditions mesurables dans le cadre d'un indicateur de dignité avant d'en arriver à un indicateur d'accès au confort !

Merci.

Vandôme

Friends,

 

Thank your for allowing me of the delivery for new trends - and not the business as usual - on behalf of BIRD group.

1°- Social development is about peoples. Often our processes leave peoples by the side of the road to deal with goods and services. How do Goals can re-balance human activities for a real people centric and oriented development.

2°- Also, the ethics of profitability in the science of management. A number or historical events in recent dates, drive us to a number of unvwanted directions- For examples, increase of violences (we all know where are the evils, still we are unable to pacify conflicted affected areas), catastrophic events (the raise of catastrophic events and the cost magnifiers, are we reasonnable- 2015 Sendai UNISDR is a robust framework, but can it stand the erosion of time and uncertainties, others, corruptions, that led to new corporate laws...)

3°-an aspiration would be to see a world more at peace, if the Post 2015 development is implemented and able to  materialize.

This is a claim to put the new development paradigms at work, energy transition...and also, road of dignity (zero poverty by 20130) and road to Paris (keep the climate changes as low as 2 degree celsius).

 

We need to make thing simple without being simplistic, reduce risks, promote added values and good practices, reconciling diverging interest like promoting standards, innovations,... and in thes same time lower some of these standards too, because the are also, values for example for work creations, put back the environmen in its own right and capacity to recycle itself. Thank, Georges BIRD.

Vandôme
Social policy is about society. It is about fulfilling people’s rights, making them prosperous and happy. Hence, in order to identify the nature of social policies, it is important to delve into the nature of the society. To analyze the nature and dynamics of the society we, at the Center for Economic Research (Uzbekistan), made an attempt to look at social policies through the prism of social contract. Social contract – is an implicit agreement between the government and main social groups, formulated around basic living needs of the society: sustainable livelihoods, guaranteed employment and income, as well as confidence in tomorrow. This agreement determines the fabric and model of the society and creates the background and the framework for human development as well as fulfillment of individuals’ social rights. Accordingly, it is social contract that defines the model of social policy at each stage of development in the economy.At the moment for the developing world with many low income economies social policies are designed within the social contract “loyalty in exchange for social guarantees”. This is because in low income countries basic needs of the society boil down to the necessity to ensure guaranteed minimum income. However, what we are witnessing at the moment (and, probably, will witness in the coming decades) is the transition of a large number of lower income economies into the group of middle income ones. The question is whether these transformations will imply the need for the revision of social contract and social policies. In our view, they will! First of all, needs of the people in middle income countries go far beyond the cash transfers, ensuring guaranteed minimum income. The demand for social services and quality of life in middle income economies is fundamentally different from that in low income developing world. People in middle income economies are much more interested in opportunities: opportunities to have decent jobs so that they could afford quality social services; opportunities to get a high quality education to ensure self-realization and decent employment in the future etc. Moreover, taking into account the acceleration of transformations as the country graduates into the group of middle income countries, the conventional redistribution policies (e.g. through cash transfers) may not work effectively in these economies anymore. It may be important to introduce the integrated mechanisms that could implement redistribution automatically (for example, through multiplier or spillover effects). Based on the experience of Uzbekistan, that has recently graduated to the group of lower middle income countries and is aimed to enter the group of upper middle income economies by 2030, we found out, that one of the options for the effective social contract in the future is the model, which could be formulated as “loyalty in exchange for guaranteed opportunities”. Social policies within this model need to create opportunities. On the one hand, broad opportunities are needed to drive sharp growth of labour productivity and economic breakthrough, that is essential for the middle income economies, and on the other hand, emergence of new opportunities expand social rights of the people including the right for income, education, social security, pensions, etc. Within this model inclusiveness is not a restriction on growth but rather a strategy that enhances growth and at the same time ensures meeting people’s social rights. In the terms of Uzbekistan, the model of social contract towards 2030 could include 3 key elements: 1) Transformation of the employment pattern (expansion of decent, productive, and sustainable employment), that implies the need for the transformation of the economy structure; 2) Creation of critical mass of knowledge for economic breakthrough and self-realization of individuals through improving the quality and transforming the structure of education (quality education will expand the opportunities for people (opportunity to choose, employment, income, self-realization); 3) Introduction of the mandatory insurance in healthcare and pension system (this could enable guaranteed access to social services for all groups of population without steep reduction of the fiscal space) You can find more information in recent Policy Brief of the Center of Economic Research on “Social Policy for Economic Transformation and Social Sustainability: New Social Contract in the New Stage of Development” (http://www.cer.uz/en/publications/2368)
Ashwini Sathnur
Ashwini Sathnur
  • What are new trends in development thinking?
The latest development agenda is the Sustainable Inclusive Development Agenda. This features technological/ non-technological innovative solutions. Since the core topic that Inclusive Development deals with, is ICT, the current society is witnessing a revolution in awareness. Inclusion, disability, facilities for the disabled persons, Accessibility is bringing in new frontiers of knowledge and its applications to the citizens , including the women and the youth. There is a splurge of mobile technology among the industrialists and its employees.
  • In your view, what are the most pressing emerging challenges, and why?
When ICT industry and technology industry is considered as the core of inclusive development, there exists and creates a platform for innovative solutions. At certain rare cases, there could be instances of injustice or human rights explosion - when intellectual property rights are being dealt with. This could ideally be the case when there is an existence of corruption. This corruption could be at any level in a nation - at the grass root level also. 
  • Can current social policy frameworks effectively address these challenges? If not, what needs to be done and how?
Inclusive Development policies foster higher rate of innovations. And enables the disadvantaged sections of society. But there could be rare cases where access to justice would have to be ensured. This could be rectified by employing human rights professionals and intellectual property rights professionals in the industry. And these counsellors would be engaged along with the innovating team, during the process of innovation and also while evaluating that innovation. And to ensure that there is proper access to justice. Also at the international level, there could be monitoring and evaluation carried out on the nation - at regular intervals of time.
Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Le développement social est l'un des trois piliers du développement durable:

Ses tendences      et    les défis à relever:

 La politique sociale actuelle  dans tous les pays du monde entier ne touche pas toutes les couches défavorités: l'exclusion, la discrimination raciale, la xénophobie et l'intolérance qui y est associée, la corruption, la pauvreté, le chômage, le changement climatique en sont des signes précurseurs.

  Les ODD ont prévu le développement social avec des tendences de :

1-/ la révolution des données

2-/ Une politique inclusive

3-/ La promotion des droits de chacun

4-/ La création d'emplois sociaux décents

5-/ L'adaptation climatique

6-/ La lutte contre la corruption

7-/ L'assistance

pour des défis à relever comme:

- Avoir des données fiables sur la population locale, nationale et mondiale

- Avoir des données statistiques des pauvres, des minorités, des ménages sans électricité, sans cuisinière moderne, des malades chroniques, des personnes âgées, des personnes handicapées, des migrants, des peuples autochtones, des chômeurs, des femmes vulnérables( veuves, filles mères) et autres et des enfants vulnérables( orphelins, enfants de la rue, enfants abandonnés, enfants malnutris, des sinistrés et de victimes de catastrophes ou de guerres, des réfugiés etc...

- Avoir des données sur les terres cultivables, les fôrêts et les possibilités d'adaptation climatique et d'agro-foresterie

- Avoir des données culturelles et traditionnelles liées à chaque milieu 

- Developper une politique inclusive sans discrimination

- faire appliquer la DUDH et les conventions et pactes signés et ratifiés par les Etats partis,

- Avoir des projets porteurs pour tous

- Diminuer voir annuler le chômage dans le monde,

- prolonger l'espérance de vie des populations.

Ce qui n'était pas le cas.

Giorgio D'AMORE
Giorgio D'AMORE

My plain and simple opinion is that, in the long run, the only way to reconcile social dignity and environmental sustainability is to stop worrying  about GDP increase and creating new jobs. In an advanced society, which gives space to each and every human dimension, the goal it should be to work less,  no to work hard. So a right question to ask could be: how do you guarantee everyone a decent life, using less resources as possible, producing less waste possible and working as little as possible, in a context of full labour inclusion?  

An answer could be a division of the required workload among all potential workers, challenging the prevailing trend where we see the increase of worktime and overtime for few and, the other hand,  we face more often unemployed,  underemployed, and inactive ones. It looks crystal clear to me that productivity gains (technological progress) allow the same labour force to produce more output; or, if you prefer, the same amount of production (supply) “needs” to employ less labour. The limit (in the mathematical sense) is that, with an infinite productivity,  you (society) may produce in a second all you need for all; but if you (society) work two seconds to “employ” someone else,  the “extra” worker  produces – by definition - superfluous goods that do not really serve, pollute and that the society is no longer able to “dispose”;  and consuming not fully renewable natural resources.

An effective solution to tackle unemployment and reallocate labour (and income) could be the “Sabbatical Year” paid as a year of early retirement; to begin with - for example - 1 year every 10 to “halt” 10% unemployment. The sabbatical year stop it would release immediately jobs for young people;  elderly people would enjoy some early retirement in order to study, travel, paint, to volunteer, to rethink about life, or any other activity always postponed for lack of time, last but not least best human relationships; and with better health than when they are more advanced in years, and with a lower level of "vulnerability" (as they probably have invested part of their income in some kind of property investment and/or maybe put aside some little savings) as compared as the never employed  (young people seeking for their first job most likely have  little/no goods).

From the social point of view of costs, the balance is based on the fact that the sabbatical years (early retirement to pay for the states) could be covered by the  “not-payments” for the prolonging of working age (example: 4 “sabbatical years” during the “normal” working life correspond to 4 years later retirement age; after all life expectancy is getting longer as result of medical advances!). At the current time, the unpaid contributions from those who benefit of the sabbatical years, are replaced by the social contributions of new employed that replace them. For a single sabbatical worker, the “advanced” pension year is covered by the contributions paid so far (10 years to stay with the same numerical example).

Create a society in which we will live better by working less and with dignity, while consuming less,  is to me the crucial element of environmental sustainability and social well-being; and in order to the phenomenon be “shared and inclusive", labour and incomes have to be “reshuffled”; because there are those who cannot live because they do not work, and those who cannot live because they work too much.

Vandôme

Considero que hoy en día la población global se enfrenta a nuevos desafíos principalmente de tipo medioambiental que comprometen la sostenibilidad de la vida tal y como la conocemos ahora. Desde hace muy poco tiempo conceptos como “desarrollo sustentable” han ingresado dentro de la esfera empresarial, ya no como elementos contradictorios sino más bien complementarios. Están naciendo nuevas empresas que ya no buscan ser las “mejores del mundo”, sino las “mejores para el mundo”, lo cual implica un cambio de paradigma entre lo económico y lo ambiental que no existía hace algunos años atrás. Esta búsqueda de un triple impacto, económico, social y medioambiental, constituye uno de los nuevos enfoques que considero tienen la capacidad de constituirse en verdaderos motores de cambio, en un mundo globalizado que permitan que iniciativas de este tipo logren extenderse en la medida que las necesidades de los estados así lo requieran. Nuevos actores del sistema internacional, ya sean corporaciones o transnacionales emergen dentro de este nuevo paradigma y creo que hoy más que nunca es que debemos aprovechar de incluir dentro de la agenda gubernamental las perspectivas de aquellos que tengan como foco no solo el maximizar sus recursos, sino también el cómo hacer frente a los fenómenos como el cambio climático y sus derivados. Creo que un enfoque integral conformado por una trilogía entre el cambio climático, los derechos humanos y las políticas públicas es hoy necesario, y es el único que permitirá hacerle frente a la innegable problemática que existe en la actualidad.

Saludos cordiales.

Vandôme

Hola Karen, comparto tu análisis descrito. En nuestro país (Chile), el cambio climático ha generado una sequía que mantiene a más de 70 localidades en calidad de "emergencia agrícola". Además, la producción cuprífera, pese a ser nuestro mayor sustento económico, posee efectos colaterales que han contaminado diversas zonas del ecosistema nacional; un hecho que debe ser atendido por las autoridades.

 

¡Saludos cordiales!

Vandôme
I completely agree, that the sectoral approach to social policies, that has been widely employed so far is no more acceptable. Let’s look at the concept of the inclusive growth. Till now it has been to a large extent ensured through the classical mechanisms of resource redistribution such as cash transfers. This was pretty feasible for the world comprised of the resource abundant economies with high income and many low income developing countries. What we are witnessing at the moment (and, probably, will witness in the coming decades) is the transition of a large number of low income economies into the group of the middle income ones. The demand for social services in middle income economies is completely different from that in low income countries. For example, based on our estimates, per capita healthcare expenditures usually increase 5-6 fold, per capita social allowances grow 3-4 fold. On the other hand, we also need to deal with the challenge of growing resource scarcities and high volatility of the markets. Moreover, all this is happening on the background of the steep growth in the number of population in the developing world! Taking into account all these trends, it would hardly be possible to ensure social inclusion in future based only on resource reallocation. What is important is that redistribution policies not only re-allocate resources, but also contribute to the generation of resources. And this is possible! For example, if instead of the cash transfers for the unemployed, you also provide allowances for the re-training of these individuals to ensure alignment of current skills to the demand of the labor market, this will create much more feasible effects. This will not only ensure guaranteed income for these people in the short term, but will also provide for the decent employment and sustainable source of income for these social groups in the medium and long term. Moreover, this will also create broad opportunities for self-realization of these individuals. Last, but not least, is that it will contribute to the economic growth, government budget, thus expanding the fiscal space for effective social policies in the future as well. We tried to utilize such comprehensive approach to social protection and look at it in the context of structural transformations of the economy, anticipated changes in demographic pattern, social structure and transformations of lifestyles and values of people in the medium- and long-term in our publication “Uzbekistan Towards 2030: A New Social Protection Model for a Changing Economy and Society” (http://www.cer.uz/en/publications/2199).
Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado

A Possible Conceptual Framework

 

Let me begin with the obvious, i. e., what one has to do to better the social conditions of the people, and how one may bring it about, depends on the expectations of each individual concerned. Obviously, these expectations show a great diversity according to individual cultural values, the extent of one's knowledge including that of one's own limitations, and last but not the least, one's believed values. I think it would be a mistake to ignore the epistemological soundness of this set of premises before we try to deal with the inhuman social inequities found throughout the world.

Unless it is actively taken into account, we will be imposing our own notions of 'better life' on the deprived, which the do-gooders of every ilk ranging from the colonial missionary to modern expert have done at a tremendous cost in social integrity of many a community, huge environmental degradation,  an alarming loss of bio-diversity in agriculture making it more and more vulnerable to threats, introduction of industrial technology leading to unemployment and mass migration into urban centres, etc. All this and more could have been avoided, if we were open-minded enough to remember two obvious things, viz., social improvement is meaningful only with reference to an individual and not with reference to any abstract entity like 'state', community, 'region' etc. And secondly, no individual can voluntarily conceive of his social improvement other than in terms familiar to him. Let me emphasise these are logical facts, which are very different from contingent ones that are open to discussion.

 

Therefore, I suggest that we regard as our goal enabling each individual to enhance his or her well-being according to one's lights in a manner that does not harm others and our common environment. This notion does not impose any foreign standards on a person or a tradition, but can easily accomodate world's cultural diversity and the wide variety of individual preferences in a holistic fashion.

 

If we are willing to accept this as our objective, then it would be clear that we may achieve it at local, regional, and national levels. As the resources needed for the purpose are very unevenly distributed in the world,  an appropriate global support for the endeavour would be of considerable use. Let me underline here, that now I am talking  about the scope of an action, and not our goal, viz., individual well-being.

 

At this point, we encounter the question, what constitutes individual well-being? A mechanical thinker might even ask, how to measure it and present it as statistics, as though what civilised human beings value most can be measured and tabulated. I have seen  that there are happy poor, and sullen and nervous rich, and I am certain that we are not trying to make the poor into that type of 'developed' people.

 

I postulate we experience well-being and contentment when we are able to adequately meet our six fundamental needs in a way that entails no harm to others and to our environment. I have discussed them extensively elsewhere in these consultations. Briefly, they are education in its proper and broad sense, nutrition, security in its widest sense, health, procreation, and the set of non-material needs that include esthetic satisfaction, and various leisure activities. Please note the clothing and shelter offers us security from inclemencies of the weather as well as other threats.

 

Now it will be agreed that in order to satisfy  those needs, we need other things. For instance, to satisfy our nutritional needs, we need to prepare it before consumption. To do this, we need to procure  the food, and most of us need money to do so.

 

So, achievment of well-being branches out into six needs, which  in turn, ramifies into an inter-connected hierarchy of subordinate needs. Thus, the need for money is a subordinate need, for money is a means of enabling us to meet a higher or more important need. We engage in economic activities to meet our need for money. I state the obvious here to underline the fact that unless it serves its proper function, viz., being instrumental in enabling one to experience well-being and contentment as described earlier, economy becomes the prime generator of social inequity and environmental disasters.

 

This is the case whether we are simple wage earners or affluent tradesmen, because the modern economy is not intended to serve as a means of achieving individual well-being without entailing harm to others and to our common habitat. Rather, it has been given a value priority, which is illogical by every rational standard. I do not depreciate its proper value, but by attributing to it an importance that cannot be justified, we have turned economy into the mainspring of inequity and human misery.

 

Consider now, the reality of modern economy. Irrespective of the political complexion of where it is practised, its function is taken to be acquisition of wealth or power, or both. And there are no legal limits to the wealth one may acquire by engaging in what is termed 'legitimate business.' Please note that this legitimacy is only concerned with the kind of business and methods it uses, but not the profit one may gain from it.

 

The inevitable result of such a practice is that an inordinate portion of the finite wealth in the world will be sequestered  in the hands of a minority of skilled trade practitioners. As the world population grows as it does now, this will lead to an exponential increase in the numbers of the poor. Hence, the growing human misery and squalor.

 

Moreover,  the cosmetic environmental measures in use at present, cannot do much to ameliorate the damage we have done to it through our past environmental misconduct.  It is the deprived in the world who have to bear the brunt of the natural disasters resulting from that misconduct.

 

Good governance, wonderful policies,  sound plans of their implementation,  a bunch of rights that would satisfy a god,  are excellent in theory. But the nitty gritty of the matter is, does it help anyone to meet one's fundamental needs?

 

Re-working an old cliche, all those are about how to provide the deprived a bit of the cake.  But, most of the cake is private property, portable or otherwise! And the number clamouring for a bit is increasing dramatically, while its privately held portion is growing legitimately. So, all our talk about governances etc., can give results if and only if enough of it can be shared among an ever growing number of people by some magic means of dividing an increasingly small piece of cake. This is the challenge we face before we can reasonably talk about what to  do, and how to do it.

 

I think we have no choice but to bite the bullet and think again about the justifiability of what we consider to be acceptable economic practice. The current practice is merely a technically improved version of that which has been with us for centuries. It is motivated by individual desire to make gain ad libitum. To achieve that, economic practitioners create demand either by inducing  growing consumerism, or by controlling supply through legal but by no means fair methods (eg. commodity futures).

 

I think it is essential that the 'haves' of today should be educated to understand that the purpose of wealth is to enable man to meet his fundamental needs as befits a civilised being without harming others and our environment. If we can make some progress here,  it would be possible to introduce a humane and civilised notion of economic practice that embody cooperation for mutual benefit, which I hasten to add does not entail any marxist notions or its derivatives, for it does not imply equality in gain, nor yet barring individuality and creativity.  What it excludes is competition for the sake of unlimited gain that is proven disastrous to billions.

 

Would this be possible? I think it is akin to our position when we were first presented the Copernican view of the solar system. Hunt for unlimited gain has become welded into our 'mindset' just as the belief that sun orbited the earth did at that time. Five centuries on, we boast of being more rational, and it is time we proved it. We might of course, collect some crumbs of the cake by several ad hoc means to bring about a few small changes. But if we are going to be content with that, we do it at the peril of such social and human upheavals whose monstrous nature we could hardly envisage.

 

Lal Manavado.

 

 

Vandôme

Tal como muchos han señalado, la política social debe tener en su centro a la persona, su realidad y sus necesidades. Sin embargo, al intentar mejorar los estándares de vida de las personas, muchos países continúan cayendo en el desarrollo de políticas asistencialistas que no necesariamente ayudan a las personas a surgir y mejorar su situación, si no que crean una dependencia constante y fragilidad en su situación de vida. Es la trampa de los países de renta media, que en tiempos de bonanza invierten fuertemente en políticas sociales asistencialistas las cuales dificilmente pueden mantener en tiempos de crisis, creando una falsa clase media que va y viene a la pobreza.

Las políticas sociales son necesarias e importantes, pero en su diseño deben ser considerados factores más allá de la coyuntura política o económica del momento. En este sentido, el objetivo de la política social debe ser apoyar a las personas en el uso de sus propias capacidades para el disfrute del bienestar de forma constante y permanente. Asimismo, el diseño de una política social debe considerar los impactos que tiene en su público objetivo a corto, mediano y largo plazo, y estar en permanente evaluación del cumplimiento de sus objetivos para realizar a tiempo los ajustes necesarios.

En un ámbito más general, resulta positivo que el análisis del crecimiento, desarrollo y desigualdad tengan un cariz social, y no netamente numérico (índice GINI, PIB, etc). El componente cuantitativo es relevante, pero también lo es el cualitativo.

Vandôme

Maintaining capitalism system for society, the government implements several sustainable policy. Social policy is the one of the sustainable policy within a governmental or political setting to improve human welfare and to meet human needs for education, health, housing, and economic security.

             However, I doubt that does the government really try to set up the many settings to improve human welfare and satisfy human's needs for different sections such as education, health, and economic security? Then, why the number of challenges for social policy is increasing and discussed? Among them, I want to drag the problem from criminal justice as the challenge. Recently, the number of cases of sexual violence and security risks for young children has been increased not only in Korea but also in other countries. As the targets of criminals are especially weak and young children and the age of victims is low, the seriousness of issues increase and spreads.

             There are several cases that I could not forget, quarrel with Providence, and blame the government. I will explain only one of them. The case is called "Nayoungi Case" occurred in 2008. To simply describe the case, Nayoung(nick-name, 8 years young girl, was grabbed by a stranger around 50 years to nearby church and raped. Not only she was raped, but also her all her viscera was sucked by plunger and destroyed. At the time, she was only 8 years old and has to bring artificial organ bucket for forever because of her viscera. What was the punishment for him? Because he claimed that he was drunk and had health problem, less severe penalty was given to him. Compare to Nayoung's situation and her pain and trauma for the rest of her life, he will be free after 12 years. Based on this true story, the movie which is called "Hope" came out in order to fix the law and change it. Even though the movie came out and many people against to the law and government, the policy and law has not been changed.

             Is there really no solution to solve this challenge? Let me give my opinions.

1)  Strengthen the effective solution which is on-going.

Several years ago, they release the identities of sexual offender in the Internet.

Some opponents refuse to release the identities because of privacy.

In my opinion, on the other hand, posting the information of sexual offenders is the effective solution to announce to the people and alert people to dangerous situation.

 

2)  Intensify punishment

The punishment on criminals is weak and light especially "sexual violence special law".

Because of light penalty, people have tendency to ignore the law and do not care.

Therefore, punishment should be intensified and heavy.

 

3)  Ponder about social policy

We need to think deeply what is real social policy and what is the purpose of social policy. As I mentioned above, this policy exists to improve human welfare and to satisfy human needs for education, health, housing, and economic security. Do not forget that young and weak children are the one who has the right to be protected by country.

 

 

 

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado
Social policy and the breakdown of society Mr. Kim's contribution dramaticallyy illustrates a point that has often been ignored, or hidden under a blanket of impressive verbiage, viz., the appropriateness of a policy as a means to an end. Let me illustrate this flaw using the example he has given. 1. The purpose of the social policy relevant here, is to ensure the well-being, i. e., security of children.2. Obviously, this requires two things; an appropriate policy, and secondly, it is adequately implemented.3. In the case Mr. Kim cites, this is patently not true. Such cases are spreading widely throughout the 'civilised' world., but are practically unknown in the few remaining 'savage' societies. Now, let us try to find out why this has happened. As Mr. Kim points out, the policy concerning the security of children is inadequate, because it does not serve as a sufficeint deterrent to potential offenders. Here, we encounter one of the biggest threats to general social security from crime, viz., influential liberal mental mechanics whose pseudo-scientific views often elicit greater official sympathy for the criminal rather than the victim. They render the criminal into a strange creature, viz., at the moment a crime has been committed, the criminal was 'not responsible' for his actions due to alcohol, temporary madness, etc, etc. As Mr. Kim says, the awful sufferings of the victim and the resultant trauma that will blight her whole future are not weighed against the offender who has already lived more than half of his life.  Can anyone honestly claim that such a policy embodies any justice? Some citizens of the US did not think so. Instead of resorting to words, they did something about it by establishing vigilante groups. Of course, some may argue that citizens should not take the law into their own hands, but if the law and its enforcement are inadequate, man surely has a right to defend himself, those who are dear to him and his property. I can almost hear liberal voices complaining about the use of deterrent in criminal justice. I have seen 'statistics' cited to prove that hanging does not reduce the murder rate. But, those debators conviniently forgot to note two things: 1. It is logically impossible to compare the incidence of murder between a 'hanging' year and a 'no-hanging' year, simply because there is no possibility of doing a control during the two years under comparison. Hence, the comparison is mere heresay with no scientific basis whatsoever.2. It is generally agreed that nuclear detterent, though ironical when claimed by H sapiens sapiens, was an important factor in preventing the 3rd world war. The point is fear of death or punishment still remains the most potent factor that influences human behaviour next to ringing rhetoric. Unfortunately, appeal to reason does not seem to have made much progress in human communities since the time of Niccolo Machiavelli who ought to be politically cannonised for his insight. Now, I will come to my second point; the adequate implementation of an appropriate policy. As Mr. Kim's example deals with the law, I will just observe that law enforcement has go a long, long way before anyone in the world can be content. In spite of what the experts say, it is not easy to find  someone who would like to go to law without misgivings. It is universally slow, offen very expensive, hence some are more equal before the law than the others. My point is it is no good talking about what policies to have, unless we first secure means to ensure that they are appropriate, and are adequately enforceable.  These are not givens, and we seem to take it for granted that they are. Real life experience shows that we are either unable or unwilling to ensure those, hence, the inadequate result of many a social policy. Capitalism, ah! In my previous contribution to this forum, I think I outlined why capitalism will result in progressive environmental degradation and social inequity just as it did under bolshevism of the former soviet union. It is just i difference in grade rather than in kind. Finally, please remember many social policies require making certain resources available to the people who need but do not have them. The possibility of their earning them (note that I do not advocate redistribution of wealth), depends on their availability to be earned. Ah, here is the rub, most of those resources are in the hands of the affluent few, and they will not let the others earn some of it unless they get back a bit  more in profit. So, more and more wealth will have to be generated by exploiting our already strained environment. This is highly undesirable. Perhaps the big decision-makers of the world ought to read Swift's "A Modest Proposal" with a view to learning something or implementing it! Lal Manavado.  
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2015 5:46 PM
To: Lal Manavado
Subject: [World We Want 2015] MiseonKim student from Republic of Korea commented on the Discussion "Week 2 (13 – 17 April): Social policy: new trends and challenges "

Yo

Vandôme
Jaehun Kim College Student from Republic of KoreaSun, April 12, 2015 at 12.00 pm

Respected Thelma,

I feel that strengthening education is most important factor that dominates promotion of social development. Empowering social development by applying effective social policy at national level has been shown in the past decades for many countries. In terms of education, the policies such as career academies for low-income high school, job internship programs, free elementary school education and so on. The priority sector that has to be accorded with education is the business sector because this sector can boost the employment rate in the world and also improve social welfare by donation and financial support to the low-income schools. If you look into current generation, high school students and college students are so worried about employment after graduation. It has been also indicated in past few years that unemployment rate in the African countries is high compared to other countries. I suggest that business sector conduct programs such as campus recruitment, scholarship for below-poverty line students and education foundations at rural areas and under-developed countries.

 

As per the second guiding question for relation between social development and sustainable development, I feel that it is important role for community and the government. Since sustainable development is closely related to the future economic growth, human growth and resources, the government have to value social and sustainable development in a parallel perspective. In order to harmonize these two concepts, the governments have to set up good policies and laws that embrace protection of environment and need of human beings. Also, when the government creates these policies or laws it should be long term effective and flexible to any internal and external changes of the world. Moreover, the community also plays important role in development. People should be aware of sustainable use of resources and educated about the advantage and future benefits of the laws. When these two sectors can harmonize, I am pretty sure that social development and sustainable development can go hand in hand.

 

Every sector has different policies for development. It is very critical for all countries to create and maintain those policies for future welfare and growth, but it is most important to interconnect those cross-sector policies to govern various sectors efficiently. Coherency among the different sectors with the help of polices can contribute to generating domestic and international policy environments for an effective mobilization of resources from a variety of sources to finance sustainable development. Firstly, to imply these coherent polices, the government has to adopt international indicators of policies according to their economic status and financial growth. This helps by identifying policy linkages and strengths and weaknesses in addressing common challenges. Secondly, the policies among the sectors must be flexible in terms of operation and expansion. As the world environment changes quickly, the policies being created by the government should be looking for flexible and long-term achievable goals. Being inflexible can cause collapse of an economy through improper management and expansion of economy can be missed by wrong governance. Lastly, the government must have its subsidiary plans and countermeasures in order to respond to failure of coherent policies because these measures can avoid or at least minimize the damage caused by the process of coherent policies.

 

Social development framework is the blueprint of social development in a country. As it is very essential and important for a country, the international organizations and countries have made various helpful frameworks for development. If we see today’s generation, it is the world of technology and sustainability. So, I suggest frameworks such as sustainable development of technology, international coordination and partnership and diversity management of community. As technology develops, the society is negligent with respect to resources and pollution. Even though policies and laws are created to manage resources, it is impossible to follow up because of increase in population and demand. So, we need to focus harder on sustainability. International coordination and partnership is important because as the world is in trend of globalization, the countries have to unite with each other for solving international problems such as poverty, inequalities of economic growth and global pollution and diseases. The government policy once focused on access and equity and on multiculturalism, the trend has shifted to promoting effective management of diversity, with the implication that this is as much about good business as it is about social justice. Government policy to increase the population through targeted immigration, it can be expected that a greater cultural mix will result. It will be important to ensure that this diversity is managed effectively, as part of broader community capacity building initiatives.

 

Regards,

Jaehun Kim

Vandôme

In your view, what are the most pressing emerging challenges, and why?

 

We need credit to finance the transition process towards a low carbon economy with social policy and inclusive development (equality and equity, values and norms emphasizing social justice).

Well, the challenge isn’t necessarily easier for emerging economies – pledges to reduce carbon intensity mean curbing emissions at the same time as promoting rapid economic growth. China and India are expected to nearly double the size of their economies by the end of the decade, but emissions must level off soon for them to meet their targets. The majority of any new energy demand will have to be met from renewable energy and not fossil fuel generation (unless this can be fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS)). Russia and Brazil expect slower economic growth, but their emissions pledges imply a more drastic cut in carbon intensity than both China and India.

Trends - We estimate that the world economy now needs to reduce its carbon intensity by 5.1% every year to 2050 in return for a fair chance of limiting warming to 2oC above pre-industrial levels. Even to have a reasonable prospect of getting to a 4oC scenario would imply nearly quadrupling the current rate of decarbonisation.

It is necessary to create rapid access to financial instruments and therefore we need law enforcement able to support the development banks and generate alternatives for small entrepreneurs and even initiatives of society itself. We do not have this kind of instruments. The laws are still vague and they are not related to social development.

Countries should create specific criteria for such funding, based on social, cultural and ecological attributes. Although we are in a globalized world, the local networks can (and should) help us recognize and accept different realities. Only by this way it would be possible to protect the environment (ecological system). We depend on local communities and it does not seem to be completely understood by economic power (local industry and market).

Vandôme

Una de las principales tendencias que actualmente está presente dentro las distintas agendas gubernamentales es la desigualdad. Mientras en los países desarrollados se ha pasado de una cultura materialista a un enfoque postmaterialista, donde los ciudadanos exigen una mejor calidad de vida representada en la protección del medio ambiente, aumento de los tiempos de descanso, entre otras garantías; los Estados de América Latina aún no logran satisfacer las necesidades básicas de su población, esto, particularmente reflejado en las áreas de educación, salud, empleo y vivienda. Dicha realidad heterogénea, nos hace repensar acerca de la manera como las naciones de la región abordan el desarrollo social de sus pueblos. Los desafíos son disímiles, razón por la cual será necesario un trabajo mancomunado que permita equiparar  recursos y destinar mayores aportes de la comunidad internacional a los países más vulnerables. Hoy no se concibe un progreso unilateral; los potenciales avances y soluciones deben emanar desde instancias multilaterales, donde el beneficio sea integral para la mayoría de los Estados. Por su parte, el Estado de Chile mantiene el reto de superar las brechas económicas y las desigualdades imperantes en su sociedad, comprendiendo que no es viable alcanzar el desarrollo sin enfrentar primero los problemas internos. Las reformas impulsadas por el actual gobierno, intentan dar un giro desde un paradigma fundamentalmente economicista a un sistema de protección social e inclusión. Pero todavía falta materializar múltiples cambios estructurales, los que permitan erradicar las dificultades que viven cada día millones de compatriotas. Como expresó la Secretaria Ejecutiva de la CEPAL, Alicia Bárcena: “igualar para crecer y crecer para igualar”.     


Vandôme

Yes, I agree..... Multilateral decisions can be expected to impose greater terms-of-trade effects among nations. Yet despite their potential, multilateral decicions often are less effective in bringing about desired political results. Such effects are due in part to the inability of multilateral coalitions to enforce cooperation among different nations. Unilateral decisions, however, specified by a country with close ties to the defined targets, are often effective in achieving the intended political objectives.

Vandôme

Uno de los desafíos señalados en la introducción de este foro, se refiere a los trabajadores migrantes y cómo las políticas públicas hacen frente a esta situación que, a medida que pasan los años, se intensifica y hace visible con mayor notoriedad. Este fenómeno comporta una dimensión institucional significativa, que concierne a las políticas (o “no políticas”) migratorias que cada Estado ha implementado para abordarlo, las cuales pueden tener un carácter más abierto o restrictivo, según cada Estado lo determine. En muchos casos, el cambio en la composición y tamaño de los flujos migratorios ha conllevado la necesidad de modernizar, conforme los tiempos que corren, las normativas destinadas a la regulación de las migraciones. No obstante, las respuestas han sido dispares. Casos como el de Argentina, evidencian un cambio rotundo en la forma de abordar el fenómeno migratorio, lo que se evidencia en la derogación de la denominada “Ley Videla” de 1981, y la promulgación de la Ley Migratoria N° 25871 del año 2004. Esta normativa tiene el mérito de ser el primer cuerpo legal en reconocer el derecho humano a migrar, teniendo como uno de sus objetivos esenciales la regularización migratoria, con el fin de propender a la formalidad laboral. En el caso de Chile, desde el retorno de la democracia, distintas iniciativas han buscado impulsar una nueva ley migratoria que considere las nuevas dinámicas que comporta el fenómeno de la inmigración, teniendo como un hito el Instructivo Nacional sobre Política Migratoria que impulsó la Presidenta Michelle Bachelet el año 2008, cuyo espíritu responde al respeto de los derechos humanos de los migrantes. En este escenario, en los próximos años será indispensable la materialización de dicha disposición hacia la inmigración en un nuevo cuerpo legal, que sirva de sustento para la implementación de políticas públicas migratorias que velen por el cumplimiento de la Convención Internacional sobre la Protección de los Derechos de Todos los Trabajadores Migratorios y de sus Familiares, promulgada el año 2005.  

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Oui, les Etats ont signé et ratifié la DUDH et les conventions, y compris la convention relative aux doits des travailleurs migrants et les membres de leur famille. Les mêmes autorités ont proclamé aux Nations Unies, le 22 septembre 2011, une déclaration commune sur la lutte contre le racisme, la discrimination raciale et la xénophobie, Les mêmes autorités, en locurence, d' Israël, le l'Angola, de l'Afrique du Sud, de Mozambique, de Kenya, de, de, de.....chassent ou ont l'intention de chasser les migrants sur leur territoire ou les maltraités.

Voilà venir à toute vitesse, les ODD qui imposent l'inclusion de tous, sans exception, aux processus de développement. L'heure est, alors, arrivée pour que chaque politique accepte les migrants, respecte leur dignité pour une vraie inclusion " Ne laisser personne de coté". Chaque politique sociale doit en tenir compte et pour celà, il faut vraiment une forte institution et une bonne politique migratoire pour y faire face. L'ONG: ADET  au Togo en est un bon exemple.

Vandôme

Estimados, primero agradezco que hiciera patente la relación existente entre Migración y el tema que nos convoca, pues las falencias existente en nuestros procesos de desarrollo  y las importantes consecuencias sociales que generan las desigualdades de nuestros países son tanto causa de migraciones especialmente vulnerables, como consecuencia agravante de la misma.

En este contexto quisiera destacar el rol que ha cumplido la mencionada Convención internacional sobre la protección de los derechos de todos los trabajadores migratorios y de sus familiares, convención ratificada por mi país y que ya fuese mencionada por “ONG: Amis des Etrangers au Togo: ADET”, y en cuanto a ella quisiera mencionar que el próximo 30 de Julio, Día Internacional Contra la Trata de Personas, se conmemora el quinto aniversario del plan de acción mundial para combatir el tráfico de personas, donde se insta su firma, pues los principales países receptores de migrantes aun no la han hecho, mostrando las grandes diferencias existentes entre países y sus percepciones particulares sobre los nacionales de otras tierras.

El desarrollo debe ser inclusivo, debe ser un proceso que incluya a todos por igual, tanto nacionales como personas que nacieron en otros lugares y que por el solo hecho de ser persona gozan de una amplia gama de derechos que todos los Estados del mundo deben reconocer.

Esperemos se tome conciencia internacional del tema, pues el desarrollo no solo es para los países, como entidad territorial, sino que es un fenómeno que trasciende fronteras  y debe beneficiar a todos. 

Vandôme

En una era globalizada en que la movilidad de bienes, servicios y personas se hacen cada vez más frecuentes y dinámicos, una aproximación social al desarrollo se hace imperiosa. Para abordarla, un cambio de enfoque hacia los derechos es necesario pues se centra en la persona humana. La igualdad y la equidad, en materia migratoria, sólo podrán ser alcanzadas si se equipara el piso de derechos y obligaciones en materias clave entre los nacionales y las personas migrantes mediante la inclusión de éstos en la respectiva sociedad de acogida.

Si bien el caso de Argentina es pionero en la región, otros Estados en América Latina han comenzado a modificar sus legislaciones internas en aras de avanzar hacia la inclusión de las personas migrantes, equiparando los derechos y obligaciones a los que se encuentran sujetos en relación a los de sus nacionales, como son los casos de la ley 19.254 de Uruguay (a nivel del Mercosur) y la ley de Migración de 2011 de México.

En todos estos casos, para lograr los objetivos mencionados, el apego al Derecho internacional, principalmente los Tratados de Derechos Humanos, y la integración regional son los ejes centrales que subyacen a dichas normativas. En otras palabras, las modificaciones legales en materia migratoria apuntan a la sintonía entre las obligaciones contraídas por el Estado en el ámbito internacional y su adecuación, incorporación e implementación a nivel del derecho interno.

Es de esperar que los demás Estados de la región observen y se contagien con estas iniciativas de sus vecinos a través de la implementación de políticas públicas concretas y multidisciplinarias a nivel nacional que vayan de acuerdo con las obligaciones internacionales a las que se encuentran sujetos. Sin embargo, esta posible “influencia” internacional no será suficiente por sí sola, requiriéndose del apoyo de la sociedad civil para lograr estos cambios. Con todo, como se señala, la verdadera (y duradera) inclusión parte por el respeto de la dignidad de todas las personas.

Vandôme

Estimado Giancarlo: gracias por tu respuesta. Como efectivamente señalas, los esfuerzos de los Estados latinoamericanos por modernizar sus políticas migratorias han sido crecientes. En este sentido, es importante destacar la Conferencia Sudamericana de Migraciones, como un espacio de discusión a nivel subregional que ha impulsado lineamientos de acción que se orientan al reconocimiento y protección de los Derechos Humanos de los Migrantes.

Con base en lo expresado, considero fudamental que se avance en políticas migratorias, que trasciendan el ámbito estatal, y propendan a la co-responsabilidad de los Estados al asegurar el cumplimiento de los derechos humanos de la Persona Migrante. Asimismo, será parte esencial del debate el tema de la "libre circulación de personas", cuya práctica contribuye de manera decisiva a la integración regional.

ConfidentialTry EndWar
ConfidentialTry EndWar

VEN UD A LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS Y OBTENGA UD EMPLEO A TRAVES DE "FLEXIBLE STAFFING" ERIK RENE MARROQUIN ES LIDER CASCO VERDESTAFADOR DE HISPANOSYHISPANAS EN "STAMPEDE MEAT" EN BRIDGEVIEW,ILLINOIS,EEUU. PERO NO PAGA POR CASA EN BURBANK PORQUE HAY <<FLOODING>> Y LOS OFICIALES MUNICIPALES DE BURBANK ENVIARON CARTAS PIDIENDO A LA GENTE QUE VIVE ALLI QUE ELLOS Y ELLAS NECESITAN VENDER SUS CASAS INMEDIAMENTE (INCLUYENDO ANTONIA BARRAZA, CONTROL DE CALIDAD DE LA COCINA EN STAMPEDE MEAT, POR QUIEN YO TRABAJIA 9OCT2014-13OCT2014) QUE LASTIMA AQUI EN LOS EEUU NO HAY CASA POR SOBREVIVIR.

Vandôme

Mucho se ha escrito en relación al desarrollo pero lo que efectivamente se lleva a cabo es uno de los principales desafíos. En general las políticas públicas tienen grandes problemáticas en su fase de implementación ya que el diseño no logra reflejar realmente el entramado de problemas que se necesitan resolver. Al intentar abarcarlo de manera holística el principal desafío es integrar a todos los actores involucrados, y para ello no solo me refiero a tecnócratas ni académicos de organismos como universidades o instituciones de élite, sino que debe ser vista desde una perspectiva bottom up, para así abarcar los elementos más prácticos dentro de su aplicación e impacto y conseguir la representatividad máxima y coordinada. Para lograr esto es necesario establecer de forma transversal políticas de innovación social que permitan abarcar en perspectiva comparada experiencias de avance e inclusión.

En el foro se han mencionado distintas aristas de los avances en términos de innovación respecto al desarrollo sustentable, abarcando necesidades tan trascendentales como el agua potable, que para muchas sociedades puede llegar a ser una necesidad superada como para otras una realidad que los estanca. Sin embargo,  en cada proceso de políticas públicas se debe entender que un elemento fundamental de la medición de impacto es la información y difusión de aquellas iniciativas que pueden ser un pedestal imprescindible para avanzar en el desarrollo de comunidades locales cuyas problemáticas pueden ser transversales en todo el territorio e incluso topar con temáticas preocupantes que afectan a otros países y regiones.

A lo largo del proceso de pensamiento de políticas públicas resulta vital estar al tanto de las diversas realidades e iniciativas que se han gestado en países en vías de desarrollo, donde si bien las realidades tienen componentes socioculturales diversos, de alguna u otra forma el análisis comparado es una herramienta vital para el progreso de iniciativas que necesitan complementarse o ser consolidadas para así logran institucionalizarse. En este sentido la cooperación es un elemento fundamental en el desarrollo, por lo que a su vez se presenta como un desafío a perfeccionar, tanto en la diplomacia para los pueblos como a nivel estatal, donde la emergencia de organizaciones no gubernamentales puede enriquecer de sobremanera la fase de diagnóstico e implementación de las iniciativas estatales y transnacionales.

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

La coopération, la diplomatie, la hiérarchie dans la société civile, le respect mutuel avec le gouvernement, des approches holistiques.

Vandôme

Considero que es importante darle un nuevo enfoque a las políticas sociales, sobre todo en temas de igualdad y equidad. Una arista interesante de explorar sería la inserción de temas de género.  Debido a que, por ejemplo, en Chile se dice que la pobreza tiene “cara de mujer”, puesto  que son éstas (además de los niños) quiénes se encuentran mayoritariamente en situaciones de pobreza y extrema pobreza.  De esta manera  las mujeres no solo están más vulnerables a la pobreza, sino que, como es sabido, son sujetos principales de discriminación y desigualdad, incluso en otros ámbitos, como el laboral, entre otros. Si a estos dos factores se les agrega el componente étnico, la desigualdad se ve exacerbada enormemente, sobre todo en países como Estados Unidos y en algunos de Latinoamérica donde el elemento indígena forma una gran parte de la sociedad

Es por esto que considero que los temas sociales a futuro deberían tener un enfoqué de género integrado. Principalmente  en el momento en que se plantean las problemáticas que se desea abarcar con una política pública, de forma tal que  se combata no solo la desigualdad e inequidad monetaria, si no que se logre llegar a otros ámbitos de la vida de las personas. 

Vandôme

Dear csocd54 moderator

 

I am honor to participate this wonderful discussion about social policy. I am taking EST 291 class from SUNY KOREA. I selected the question that “In your view, what are the most pressing emerging challenges, and why?” I think the most pressing and emerging challenges in nowadays are “Political freedom and gender equality”.

 

Firstly, the politics has to do with government and how power is used or distributed to citizens. Political freedom would have to do with what individuals and group of people participate in government actions and effect changes in system or laws.

 

Moreover, this is a central concept in political and one of the most important features of democratic society. Although political freedom is often interpreted negatively as the freedom from unreasonable external constraints, it can also refer to the positive rights and possibilities for action and the social group rights. 

 

The concept can also include the freedom from internal constraints on political or a speech. Furthermore this is closely connected with the concepts of civil liberties and human rights, which in democratic societies are usually afforded legal protection from the government.

 

Furthermore, political freedom may also to be shown to explain terrorism, but in a non-monotonic way. Countries in some range of political freedom are shown to be more prone to terrorism than countries with high levels of political freedom or countries with highly authority. This result suggests that as experienced recently in Iraq and previously in Spain and Russia, transitions from an authority to a democracy may be temporary increases in terrorism.

 

To sum up my points, Political Freedom is more about the ability of people to legislate what they want out of their government that allows them to be happier, safe, and more freedom within their country.

 

Gender equality known as sexual equality is the view that men and women should receive equal treatment and they should not be discriminated against based on their gender. Many countries still discriminate women that they cannot get certain job or even education. South Korea for example, ranked 111th among 136 countries surveyed, despite the fact that election of the nation's first female president in 2012. This means that gender inequality in Korea is similar to that suffered by women in Middle Eastern countries.

 

Women in South Korea have experienced great social change and especially women’s social status improvement over the last 50 years. It was shown that women’s social status has become practically equal to men’s social sectors, such as occupation, legal rights, education, political participation, and other areas. However, despite all this evidence of equality, this is still remaining inequality, such as the little women in professional fields, imbalance of housework and sometimes they have to leave their job when they are pregnant.

 

According to the OECD, South Koreans work the longest hours in anywhere, men spending little time at home and consequently leaving much of the household duties to their wives. Women who wish to continue her careers, men have responded with a baby strike, which comes at a time when the country is already experiencing a very low birth rate. Moreover, South Korea is the only OECD country where female college graduates do not have a higher employment rate. This suggests that disincentives exist for women to enter into the workforce, such as the pay gap between the men and women and fewer responsibilities for women to work.

 

South Korea experienced great economic growth in the past. In the 1960s, it was still poor with limited social freedom, but today it is one of the most economically and technologically advanced in the world. However, the role of women has not evolved along with the economic growth. This has left South Korea facing issues to low birth rates and aging population.

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Social freedom is a good thing for development, what can be established is tax payement by all to contribute to puplic economy growth like Excellency OBAMA decide in America.

Vandôme

Dear. Ms. Burke

I want to relate the ‘most pressing emerging challenge’ to the problem that is currently affecting and shocking the majority of the population on this globe; the terrorism and social tensions. It is clear that there was a significant increase in number of terrorism that occurred recently especially regarding the problem of IS. IS and many other unknowns have continuously terrorized different parts of the world, including the gunning last 12th at the Korean embassy in Libya Tripoli, and bombing at the front gate of Morocco embassy, and many other terrorism happened last few months. I consider terrorism to be the emerging international challenge because it is definitely causing the majority of the population to live in anxiety. On April 12, a transformer exploded at the Kikuyu University of Nairobi, Kenya. The students escaped the building, misunderstanding the explosion as a terrorist bombing, and while “escaping”, 140 students were injured and one was pressed to death. The fear of bombing and terrorism has grown and is growing rapidly. I strongly believe that this problem must be solved to ensure safety to the people all over this globe. 

 

best, 

HaYoung Son

Vandôme

http://www.americanbar.org/publications/international_law_news/2015/winter/embedding_rule_law_the_post2015_development_agenda_only_way_ensure_lasting_progress.html

This article draws attention to the undeniable link between the rule of law
and progress toward sustainable development, at a time of intense debate over
the Post-2015 Development Agenda. It also provides real-life examples of how
rule-of-law approaches can have a transformative impact on sustainable
development, as illustrated in the report written by the International
Development Law Organization (IDLO), Doing Justice to Sustainable
Development: Integrating the Rule of Law into the Post-2015 Development
Agenda
, available at http://www.idlo.int/insights/publications/doing-justice-sustainable-development.

Inclusivity, equity, and justice are at the core of the sustainable
development paradigm, driving our collective efforts to correct artificial and
harmful imbalances in economic growth, to remedy the misery of lives spent in
extreme poverty, and to ensure that resources and natural habitats are preserved
for future generations. And the rule of law is key to all of this, as it places
a much-needed focus on adopting sound and fair legislation and policies, on
building the capacity of institutions, and on empowering the poor and
marginalized through a greater awareness and realization of their rights.

There is no disputing the progress made toward achieving the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) over the past decade. However, the progress has been
insufficient and has occurred unevenly both between and within countries. At the
same time, climate change, by undermining today’s livelihoods and compromising
tomorrow’s, threatens to reverse any successes.

Broad consensus is emerging that sustainable development is the solution. But
there is little agreement on what fits under this umbrella concept.

Still, it is clear that the rule of law is and should be seen as an integral
part of sustainable development, underpinning social and economic progress and
environmental protection with strong institutions and good governance, formal
legal frameworks and legal empowerment of people, equal opportunities and
equitable access to basic services, due process, and fair outcomes for all.

A quick glance at how some of the primary dimensions of sustainable
development are inextricably linked to the rule of law will eliminate any doubts
in this regard.

Economic Development

Under the economic component of sustainable development, strong legislative
frameworks can provide for clarity, predictability, and certainty in commercial
affairs, facilitating business transactions while discouraging predatory and
corrupt behavior. Commercial and other disputes can be addressed through
enhanced institutional capacity, providing for increased investor confidence and
wider social cohesion. Moreover, legal empowerment efforts, including access to
markets and financial services, help create a level playing field and thus
ensure that the poor have opportunities to participate in the broader economy.
Growing inequalities, unchecked by the rule of law, are now widely recognized as
one of the key impediments to sustainable economic growth.

In order to promote equitable economic development, laws must be strengthened
and policies put in place to ensure secure access to information and
transparency, access to markets and financial services for the poor and
marginalized has to be fostered, and measures need to be implemented to provide
for secure land tenure and property rights.

One example of how access to information helped secure water for a community
in South Africa is featured in The World Bank Legal Review Volume 5:
Fostering Development through Opportunity, Inclusion, and Equity
(Hassane
Cissé et al. eds., 2014), available at https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/16240/82558.pdf?sequence=1.
The Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC) empowered villagers facing drought in
Emkhandlwini, KwaZulu-Natal, to use South Africa’s freedom of information law to
gain access to the minutes of council meetings on topics that included the
provision and distribution of water. The information detailed plans to provide
the village with access to clean water—plans that were never acted upon. The
villagers used the information to publicize the issue, and the municipality was
forced to install fixed water tanks and to deliver mobile water tanks to the
community. When the supply became erratic, villagers again used the law to seek
a service-level agreement between the municipality and the company delivering
water. When the municipality failed to draw up the contract, constituting a
breach of South Africa’s public finance legislation, it was reported to the
auditor general for investigation.

Social Progress

In the area of social development too, the rule of law provides for equitable
progress through strong legal frameworks that promote social progress and social
cohesion. Coupled with enhanced state capacity to implement related policies,
laws, and regulations, the rule of law facilitates the functioning of
transparent and participatory dispute resolution mechanisms, which in turn
enable individuals and groups to claim their rights to equal opportunity,
education, health, housing, and other economic and social rights.

Equitable social development can be ensured through according health care,
education, and other social services priority in law and policy, as these relate
to rights to which the poor are entitled; providing a legal identity to all;
guaranteeing access to justice and redress; and promoting gender equality and
women’s empowerment.

Let us consider the example of how increased women’s participation has
resulted in improved gender-sensitive policymaking in Rwanda. In “Gender Balance
and the Meanings of Women in Government in Post-Genocide Rwanda,” published in
African Affairs, vol. 107/428 (2008), the author describes the
prominent leadership role that women play in the country’s parliament. In the
2013 elections, women won 64 percent of the seats in the Lower House of
Parliament, which has ensured the long-term meaningful participation of women in
democracy. The article cites the Law on the Prevention, Protection and
Punishment of Any Gender-Based Violence as an example of legislation that would
likely not have been as strong, or even passed, had it not been for the level of
female representation in Parliament. Nor would the law’s provisions relating to
polygamy and marital rape have remained in the text if not for strong female
leadership. The author points out that an increasing number of women in
Parliament has been a result of both changing gender roles following the 1994
genocide and proactive laws and policies that promote women’s leadership.

The Environmental Dimension

In addressing environmental issues, the rule of law facilitates efforts to
tackle problems like climate change through robust legal frameworks aligned with
international standards and enforced through effective government institutions.
Responsible environmental stewardship is promoted through institutions that are
held accountable to legal mechanisms with the help of civil society. Also for
the poor and vulnerable, who are at the bottom of the pyramid, rule-of-law
approaches are empowering tools that allow them to demand action when the
environment around them is degraded, livelihoods are stolen, and land and water
rights are violated.

The following measures would facilitate efforts to achieve environmental
sustainability: strengthening legal instruments that safeguard the environment
and integrating them in a broader law and policy framework; supporting greater
access to information and ensuring that indigenous peoples, local communities,
and civil society participate effectively in setting environmental regulation
policies; and enhancing the capacity of institutions to fairly adjudicate
natural resource and land use.

Legal Aspects of the Aichi Biodiversity Target 3: A Scoping Study, a
forthcoming publication by the IDLO, provides examples of protection for
indigenous peoples and their relationship with the environment. In India, for
example, the 2006 Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act provided legal recognition to forest-dwelling
communities and their right to live in harmony with their forests and to protect
and manage their land. The Act includes the right to veto projects that would
encroach upon their lands, a right that has recently been upheld in the Supreme
Court of India. In a landmark case, the high court held that a foreign mining
company, in partnership with a state-owned mining company, could not continue
operations in the Dongria Kondh’s sacred lands without the consent of the
forest-dwelling communities. All 12 tribal villages voted against the mining.
See Vedanta Resources Lawsuit (Re Dongria Kondh in Orissa), Bus. &
Hum. Rts. Resource Centre, http://business-humanrights.org/en/vedanta-resources-lawsuit-re-dongria-kondh-in-orissa
(last visited Jan. 28, 2015).

In Ecuador, the 2008 Constitution includes a groundbreaking chapter on the
Rights of Nature, reflecting an indigenous conception of the relationship
between society and the environment. Article 71 provides that nature, or
Pacha Mama, “has the right to integral respect for its existence and
for the maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structure, functions
and evolutionary processes.” Moreover, any person, community, or peoples are
empowered to call on public authorities to enforce the rights of nature.

Conclusion

In sum, a broader understanding of the rule of law is essential; it must be
recognized as key to realizing equitable and inclusive development within
planetary boundaries. Only by embedding the rule of law in the sustainable
development goals can we ensure that progress will be lasting, justice served,
our planet preserved, and our wealth augmented and shared more
equitably.

ConfidentialTry EndWar
ConfidentialTry EndWar

Please urge decision-makers to make emergency care a priority. There are no ambulances in some regions. I attended Northwestern U Med School 1993-97.

Vandôme

http://www.americanbar.org/publications/international_law_news/2015/winter/global_common_goals_and_goods_security_and_realism.html

"What is needed fast is a sober discussion by the world’s leaders in government and civil society to define where nations’ interests are harmonious and coherent and can thus be coordinated, where interests are adverse, and where they are simply different. In such a discussion, it would be discerned that we are in a unique moment in history where our common interests and goals far
outweigh perceived adversarial postures. We could then begin acting as grown-ups
who deal with reality rather than ideas about it."

Vandôme

I am glad to participate in which a wonderful discussion about the social policy and it’s trends and challenges. 

As the capitalism advanced, there are typically three different social policies were formed. Firstly, protection of female and child labors of factory law in industrial revolution period. Secondly, right of collective organization of labors.  Lastly, if the worker’s cannot receive their income because of diseases, disaster, aging, and unemployment, the government should guarantees their income as name of a social insurance. In my opinion, social policy is all about the people and solutions to guide people’s lives through society.

As the population increasing, there are things that were not existed in the past such as unemployment, aging problem and others. Therefore, people need new trends of social policy. In other words, theses social policies need to be develop as the time past. In my point of view, aging problem and low-birthrate are the most pressing emerging challenges of present and in the future. Low-birthrate leads to aging problem, it ties together. For the case of my country, Korea, there was baby boom generation after the Korean War, 90 million people were born in 1955 to 1963. As time past, currently, baby boomers become an age of 45to 60 and it is average retirement age of Korea. In addition, for last decade, Korea face with low-birthrate and the problem become more worsen the situation. Many experts’ say, in 2050, a young person needs to support an elder per person.

 For example of republic of Korea, for the last 7years, birth rate did not pass 1.3 children. Low-birthrate reduces labor population and it slows down economic development, in the end it will threat the country. In addition, decreasing newborn babies, but increasing an aged population, welfare expense will also increase. Therefore, it affects national finance by spending more on welfare than others. Moreover, this can be big burden to young people as they have responsibility of elders and generational conflict can be aroused between elders and young people. More importantly, in a recent trend, there are DINKs (Double Income, No Kids) population increasing, so they are not planning to have children and it cause to low-birthrate. It is their freedom to have a kid, but if it continues to increase then Korea will directly affected. However, Korea developed social policy for low-birthrate, but it was not effective for the current situation. Korea started to implement the policy in 2006 and the government putted almost 10 trillion won during 9 years (2006~2014), the result was tragic. In fact, it decreased and it made worse. Current government presenting new trend of social policies for these problems and it reaches 200 solutions; yet we do not know it will work or not.

 To catch a new trend of social policy, Korean government needs to come up with new solutions. These are alleviating trend of late marriage and supporting double income family to have babies. In addition, government plans to support infertility family as well. In my opinion, government should work on changing people’s perspective of having baby. Many people are worry about after having a baby. For example, for female, some people are quit their job because of their child. In Korea, maternity leave is too short compare to other countries. Also, there have no enough place to care baby when working mothers or fathers are in work. Recently, to catch the new trend, some companies give maternity leave, not only for female, but also for their husband.

Korean government should work on these problems first, to solve low-birthrate and aging problem to increase their population.

 

Thank you.

Vandôme

Respected Sara Burke,

Social policy is inclusive of social welfare, sanitation, medical, residence, education and personal and family relations. In the light of challenges of social policies in today’s world, I’m glad to express my opinion. Most current issue related to social policy in South Korea is child violence in kindergarten by teachers and public violence due to drunken people. These issues are very critical in educational issue and social welfare of our country. Past few months, child violence and public violence news has been reported numerously. This is unethical way of dealing with people and young children. Most important problem is not about violence. It is about laws and regulations regards with such problems. Those people who were accused of violence were not severely punished for their crimes. In most cases, they were fined less and sentenced less than a year because the criminals stated that they were either stressed out or had problem with children’s discipline or drunk and were out of control. I believe that our country’s social policies with respect to education and social welfare have to be reframed. These issues are happening because we don’t have effective policies. I suggest that the court of justice must be stricter with judging sentence and fine for child violence and public violence because even though our law says minimum of 3 years, it has not been applied to all accused people. Also, the governments and law makers must increase the penalty given to them such as compulsory work time for social welfare even after they are bail out jail.

 

I also want to talk about social welfare provided to the citizens these days. We are ranked 28th out of 30 developed countries in OECD social welfare research. . This shows that social welfare for us in our country is not well-constructed and managed. Due to development of medicine and technology our life span has been increased to mid-70s and 80s. We are not facing the problems of social welfare development or reframe policy for these people. I totally agree that social welfare is closely related to tax and Korean citizens are willing to pay higher tax than today’s economy, but if you look into other developed countries such as France, Finland, Belgium and Denmark, they pay higher tax and enjoy their lives after retirement with many benefits from social welfare. Currently, our country is focusing on liberal ideology, capitalism and market economy framework which is the base for economic growth and community welfare which needed to be changed. Even though we have established 5 main social insurance policies, people don’t get maximum benefit from it because of low taxation. I see that my country’s growth is being slowed down because of increase in demand for social welfare with current tax policy. At certain point of time, we must admit this problem and believe that tax we paid will benefit us in the future in transparent and maximum way. So, I suggest that we have to adopt triage social welfare policy to efficiently solve income impartiality and help low income households. The government can also produce a budget for social welfare by reframing economic finance. This will help HHS (Department of Health and Human Service) to work on social welfare projects and create better living environment to the citizens

 

Regards,

Jaehun Kim. 

Vandôme
  • Can current social policy frameworks effectively address these challenges? If not, what needs to be done and how?

Para hablar de nuevas tendencias, desafíos emergentes y de políticas sociales que afronten efectiva y positivamente los cambios que impone el globalizado escenario actual, es necesario hablar de los lineamientos que la comunidad internacional ya ha establecido y definido, como son Los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sustentables (ODS).

Los 17 ODS propuestos apuntan a que los Estados y la sociedad mundial en general contribuyan   a generar políticas globales en áreas como la erradicación de la pobreza y el hambre, garantizar una educación y salud de calidad, y reducir la desigualdad entre otras. A grandes rasgos promover sociedades pacíficas e inclusivas para lograr un desarrollo sostenible.

Con respecto a esto la Presidenta Michelle Bachelet dirigió en enero una sesión especial del Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas sobre “Desarrollo inclusivo para el mantenimiento de la Paz y Seguridad Internacionales”. La propuesta de Chile se cimenta en que las amenazas tradicionales a la seguridad tienen causas subyacentes, como tensiones socioeconómicas, de género, étnicas, tribales, religiosas o ideológicas. Por esto se hace preciso adoptar una perspectiva multidimensional.

Todo esto refleja que la sociedad y comunidad internacional ya está consiente de cuáles son los problemas que tiene que abordar de forma urgente y existe consenso sobre esto. De esta manera, la tercera pregunta de este foro es totalmente pertinente (Can current social policy frameworks effectively address these challenges? If not, what needs to be done and how?) , si pensamos en que los Objetivos del Milenio (ODM) no lograron cumplirse totalmente, a pesar de que estos significaron un gran avance en las distintas áreas en que se enfocaban.

A raíz de lo anterior, podríamos afirmar que los marcos de las políticas sociales si funcionan pero no logran ser tan efectivos como se esperaba. Entonces, cabe responder a la última parte de la pregunta que es el “cómo hacerlo”.

La respuesta debe empezar por abordar los problemas de manera integral. La desigualdad entre los países es hoy mayor que en 1980, de acuerdo con un informe de la Conferencia de Naciones Unidas para el Comercio y el Desarrollo (Unctad), por lo que los desafíos son disímiles y en este sentido los ODS deberán usar un modelo de desarrollo distinto al del siglo XX, en el que los países desarrollados daban dinero a los más necesitados. De esta manera, las políticas sociales deberán ser enfocadas en cambiar esta lógica de un mundo radicalmente dividido entre quienes dan ayuda y quienes la reciben. Los nuevos objetivos deben considerar un mundo globalizado, donde todos los países cuentan tanto con activos como con necesidades.

Esto queda demostrado si miramos el gran conjunto de economías emergentes como China, India, Brasil, México y Sudáfrica entre otros, las cuales están asumiendo un papel más importante en el desarrollo económico y cambiando las estructuras tradicionales de poder.

A esto también hay que sumarle que los Estados no pueden desarrollar esta idea de un futuro sostenible por si solos. La globalización permea el poder Estatal, haciendo que otros jugadores entren en el juego. En esta línea el sector privado tiene un rol importante que jugar en todo el proceso. 

Finalmente creo que para lograr un desarrollo sostenible, es necesario que las políticas sociales se construyan transparentemente y con la participación de todos los actores globales.

Vandôme

Leyendo los comentarios publicados por varios usuarios, creo que todos coincidimos en que los programas y políticas en materia de desarrollo social, necesariamente deben ir dirigidas a erradicar la pobreza y proporcionar un adecuado marco de protección social dirigido hacia todos aquellos grupos más vulnerables con el objeto de promover su movilidad e integración social que es lo que toda sociedad aspira finalmente.

En el caso particular de Chile, el más grande desafío de las últimas décadas ha sido la disminución de la gran brecha de desigualdad existente. En esta línea, la Encuesta de Caracterización Socioeconómica Nacional (CASEN) del año 2013 es clara al ratificar el hecho que desde 1990 (año del retorno a la democracia) la pobreza (tanto a nivel de ingreso como a nivel multidimensional) ha ido disminuyendo de forma sostenida hasta la fecha, indicando asimismo que la desigualdad se ha mantenido constante pese a un también sostenido crecimiento económico.

Con respeto a otros países de América Latina, Chile mantiene una desigualdad mayor al promedio regional, misma situación se repite si se compara con el resto de los países miembros de la OCDE. 

¿Qué hacer entonces si una alta desigualdad tiene efectos negativos en el crecimiento? Hoy, la agenda del Gobierno actual se encuentra impulsando considerables reformas sociales, siendo ya aprobada una Reforma Tributaria y encontrándose en proceso a la vez una necesaria reforma al sistema educacional. Los cambios propuestos necesariamente hacen considerar una reforma al actual sistema de protección social, fuertmente cuestionado al igual que el hoy privatizado sistema de pensiones.

De no avanzar en lo anterior, el camino hacia el deseado desarrollo inclusivo se hace dificil de abordar si barreras como las expuestas en líneas precedentes no se superan, es por ello que resulta evidente que aplicando las mismas políticas sociales de las últimas décadas no será posible de manera alguna la reducción de la desigualdad imperante.

Saludos.

Vandôme

Estimado Nicolás:

Concuerdo con que uno de los sectores clave es, efectivamente, la educación. Un cambio en cuanto a la mejora de la calidad de ésta, a la formación de los profesores y su justa retribución, así como garantizar un acceso pleno y universal contribuirán, sin lugar a dudas, a la movilidad y al desarrollo social no sólo en Chile, sino que en cada uno de los Estados. Así lo entendieron muchos países con sendas reformas de sus sistemas educacionales, garantizando una excelente calidad y prestigio -incluso mundial- de colegios y universidades públicas y con un acceso gratuito basado sólo en el mérito y capacidades de sus alumnos. El anacronismo de nuestro sistema educacional chileno y de las evaluaciones que privilegian la memorización por sobre el comprender e innovar, son los desafíos a mediano plazo. Ahora, en el largo plazo, el rol del Estado, a mi juicio, es primordial. Con todo, la decisión de una eventual reforma que considere estas perspectivas debe tomarse hoy para que, quizás dentro de tres o cuatro generaciones, puedan verse los resultados. Resultados que apuntarán, con seguridad, hacia el ansiado desarrollo social de los países.

Vandôme

Creo que las nuevas tendencias dicen relación con la búsqueda de una distribución de los recursos más equitativa de los países en vías de desarrollo. Considero que hoy se ha entendido que aunque el crecimiento económico es de suma relevancia a la hora de poder lograr a largo plazo un desarrollo sostenible, es imperante una nueva visión de esa realidad y comprender que sin una distribución adecuada de recursos, no es posible hablar de desarrollo per se. Creo que los retos más apremiantes van en relación con los ODM no cumplidos. Claramente hubo avances en materia de acceso a agua potable, reducción de la pobreza, entre otros, pero considero que si observamos el grado de avance tecnológico que ha logrado la humanidad, no es posible que por ejemplo al año 2013 hayan muerto en todo el mundo casi 300.000 mujeres por causas relacionadas con el embarazo y el parto, cuando, en general, ese tipo de muertes es prevenible. Además, creo que falta avanzar en políticas de adaptabilidad al cambio climático, principalmente de parte de las naciones que serán más afectadas por estos fenómenos,  y cuyos efectos es posible verlos ya en la actualidad. Creo que los marcos de políticas sociales han demostrado ser insuficientes a la hora de hacer frente a estos desafíos, fenómenos como el cambio climático son hoy fenómenos reales e impredecibles que requieren políticas más audaces, específicas y prontas.

Vandôme

I’d like to address the following question: In your view, what are the most pressing emerging challenges, and why?

 

The challenges of population issues worldwide are becoming evident as trends show that both developed and “less developed” countries will face the issue of aging populations. Indeed, it is estimated that more than 20% of the world’s population will be over the age of 60 by 2050.  

The consequences of aging populations are worrying for a number of reasons. A shortage of working-age individuals hence a dwindling workforce - and significantly higher taxes to accommodate increased government spending for welfare and pensions make this issue a particularly urgent one. Countries in which this is already a problem such as Japan, Australia, and Germany are utilizing cash incentives, or “baby bonuses” to increase birth rates. 

Alternatively, the commonly suggestion solution of increasing immigration has faced mixed responses. The Japanese government estimates that gaining 200,000 immigrants per year would allow the country to maintain its population of around 100 million at a healthy age distribution. However, the current administration has leaned towards rejecting this idea citing potential difficulties associated with immigration(social integration in what is one of the most homogeneous countries in the world). Some argue that immigration is not a viable solution to aging populations at all; The Canada-based C.D. Howe Institute argues that immigration is not a long-term solution and may even exacerbate the problem. Naturally, once the issue also becomes severe in developing countries as trends suggest, an alternative to immigration must be adhered to. 

Another emerging challenge that requires crucial attention is the unfolding of the effects of the changing dynamics of jobs and education. Today’s reality paints a picture in which college graduates are debt-ridden yet unable to find appropriate jobs and opportunities for work. The rise is youth unemployment rates mirrors the number of overqualified individuals working low-wage jobs is increasing as students opt for education beyond a bachelor’s degree. An argument can be made that there is an over-saturation of educated college graduates that hasn’t been met with a match in terms of quality jobs. 

One resolution would be to focus on creativity and disruptive innovation. Disruptive innovation is defined as an idea or innovation that creates new markets instead of improving upon an existing one. MOOCs (Massive Online open course) are a leading example of disruptive innovation in education. As of 2015, MOOCs offer not only quality courses from accredited schools and institutions but also degrees and other means of certification. This means that graduates are free to acquire a vast array of skills that could help them in their employment as the trends of job opportunities change. Skepticism of the efficiency of MOOCs have been raised as MOOCs have a dropout rate of over 90% and have a long way until education of its kind is considered to be in the same league as “real” schools and universities. Disruptive innovation can also be considered the key to creating new jobs out of new unexplored markets. Hence, policies that encourage entrepreneurship and small businesses can allow new markets (and therefore jobs) to prosper. 

 

 

 

Vandôme
Dear Ms. Burke,Thanks for your comment! I would say even more, sustainability of the social contract is closely linked not only with environmental, but also with economic, institutional and even spatial dimensions. As you have already pointed out, introduction of the new social contract, formulated as “loyalty for guaranteed opportunities”, implies the need to expand decent employment, primarily in manufacturing industries. However, development of the manufacturing sector, and related changes in the production process as well as the growth of personal income and transformations of the lifestyle and behavioral stereotypes could eventually lead to the substantial increase in demand for natural resources. On the supply side, the accelerated transformations and rapid industrialization could augment negative anthropogenic impact on the environment, affect water supply, quality of land, thus, influencing the environmental sustainability in the medium- and long-term. According to the preliminary estimations, to ensure the transformations and expand opportunities for people within the suggested model of social contract, demand for natural resources needs to increase at least 2-3-fold. This means, that the effective implementation of the social contract is hardly possible without the revision of the strategy for resource consumption and environmental sustainability. You can read more about policies on implementation of the resource-efficient strategies to ensure economic and social sustainability in Uzbekistan at http://www.slideshare.net/alnargiza/transition-to-a-resource-efficient-…
Vandôme

Dear Ms. Sara Burke,

 

As the society develops and adapts to new technologies and established norms, it is crucial to set well-developed social policy frameworks in order to enhance better quality of lives to the people in the society. Since social policy framework provides mandate and welfare system for human service work, it plays a significant role in the society. According to the ‘ The Malcolm Wiener Center for social policy’, it explains social policy as a public policy that includes various areas of the field such as like health care, human services, criminal justice, inequality, education, and labor. Hence, the actions or norms of the people may depend on how social policies are established and practiced. If the frameworks are not established in a rational and moral way, I strongly believe it is certain to eventuate emerging challenges.

In South Korea, there are some controversial issues regarding the policies and laws such as like low- birth rate, insufficient care of welfare system, etc. However among those, there are one pressing emerging challenge that came up this year, which is the abolition of adultery law. In early 2015, the 62- year- old law has been abolished due to the reason that it infringes one’s personal freedom on sex and private life and violates one’s right in making decision. Due to these reasons, the highest court in South Korea has declared the law to be unconstitutional; thus processed an abolishment.  This change of law issue can thoroughly affect in many aspects of social policies. That is to say, due to the abolition of adultery law, it can cause more challenges in low-birth rate, social security, living conditions, social care, etc. This kind of policy reveals another perspective and view for the people in the society, which ultimately coins unbalanced system of social policies. As a monogamy system country, it is difficult to comply with the changed policy hence this issue is considered to be one of the pressing emerging challenges in these days in South Korea.

In order to effectively address the challenges, I believe that the government should be always rational in making decisions and establishing new policies. The government should also prepare well-developed and practical measures to deal with the outcomes for each of the policy. Since social policy includes sociology, politics and economics, it is essential to enact and accentuate the correct terms for each category. For the case for abolition of adultery law in South Korea, the government should build concrete and clever measures for possible challenges that could occur in few aspects of social policy, such as like strengthening the social security for the protection of further possible crimes in connection to the aboltion of audltery law, and the law may have effects on people's thinking of marriage and future child plan, so developing a better plan that supports financially and socially for those couples that have children  will help to encourage the increase in birth rate. The government should be always aware in terms of possible obstacles or challenges and also should be prepared in the case of modifying, abolishing, or establishing new laws from the court. 

Sincerely,

 

Harrie Chung

Vandôme

Dear Ms. Sara Burke,

First of all, I would like to appreciate UNDP for me to have a special opportunity of joining this global discussion on “Social policy”. Today, I will briefly talk about North Korean refugees having difficulties on resettling in South Korea which I believe greatly important issue related on social inclusion policy in South Korea. By definition, Social inclusion is about being part of a community and its strong ties and communication. It’s about belonging to a network of supportive relationships that are protective of good health and positive wellbeing. One definition of a socially inclusive society is where “all people feel valued, their differences are respected and their basic needs are met so that they can live in dignity

On the contrary, I have found out that there are some critical problems with social inclusion policy for North Koreans in South Korea. Yet many North Korean refugees confess difficulties in adapting to the South Korean society, especially those who are young, whose utmost interest is the successful resettlement.

South Korea is no longer to be considered as an ethnically ‘homogenous’ country. What I mean by that is that it has shifted into a diverse place with the continuous penetration of migrant workers, foreign students and businesspeople, as well as an increasing number of foreigners marrying Koreans. Among the newcomers, North Korean refugees are often considered most likely to be successful in adapting to the South Korean society as they share the same ethnicity and speak common language with us. Ironically, such social expectation seems to demand North Korean refugees to quickly adopt into our society despite their hardships while experiencing both in the course of escaping from North Korea and during transit through third countries.

According to recent studies done by Asan Institute of Policy studies, there are some main challenges that North Korean refugees face in their daily life: gaps in physical health and socio-economic status, psychological health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and bias towards the North Korean refugees that are widely spread-over in schools and workplaces. Such obstacles trigger in increasing school drop-out rates and high youth unemployment rates compared to their local peers, which dramatically decrease their chance of successful resettlement in South Korea.

However, the existing policies do not approach these concerns, but are primarily focused on providing short-term economic assistance and social services. So, I suggest that the government should take long term, multi-generational approach to solve social and health issues among the young North Korean refugees, and put more emphasis on addressing the possible biases and prejudices against them in the South Korean society.

To be more specific, the government should provide a unified policy framework for the long term support and assistance of the refugees, managed by a centralized authority that monitors dozens of programs scattered across multiple agencies and ministries.

In addition, the South Korean society should take it more serious about the fact that its bias and prejudice towards the refugees are widening the gap between them and the society even further. Through long-term support, North Korean refugees will have a chance to integrate into the country and South Korean citizens’ attitude and common misunderstanding will be adjusted as well. To achieve the mutual understanding and co-prosperity of the Korean society, South Koreans should start changing their attitudes towards North Korean refugees. Social inclusion can only be achieve by the simple and basic principle of respect for the individual. Everyone is worthy of human respect. Once it is achieved by everyone’s effort, they will no longer feel excluded from their new home.

Best,

Minjoon Kim

Vandôme

Dear Ms. Sara Burke,

 

I’m honored to participate in this e-discussion and express my opinion about the new trends and challenges of social policy. Development policy is the key to create sustainable improvements in the quality of life for all people. Equality and equity, values and norms emphasizing social justice are part of development thinking. Inclusive development includes raising per capita incomes, increasing educational levels, expanding access to health services and so on.

 

Development thinking must adjust to the fast changing society and its new trends. Our society is facing new challenges than the one we faced a decade ago. Globally, we are facing some of the same problems such as graying (elderly society), big disparity between the rich and the poor, terrorism and etc. However, each country must come up with policies that best fit its situation.

 

In the example of South Korea, our society has become more aware of policies regarding safety, rights, and privacy of individuals. After the Sewol ferry tragedy in 2014, citizens of Korea have gone through death anxiety and the government has attempted to enforce its safety policies, especially in education systems such as schools. However, it was not enough. Even after this incident, deaths due to insufficient foundation work remained the same. An anonymous person commented on a news article by saying, “Would Sewol ferry tragedy have been different or prevented if it had happened a year from that date?” It has been a year since the incident and still, no drastic changes or policies have been made to ensure the safety of the people. Failing to investigate the problems of shoddy construction and failing to put a stop to the corruption within various systems still remain.

 

I believe that the most emerging challenge in Korea would be to make sure that the citizens feel safe and to know that our rights are being preserved. Even though the population of elderly has increased, retirement policies have not been enforced. Countless amount of policies need to be made to develop and enforce various fields. Although the government plays a pivotal role in development, development policies are interdependent between the government and individuals.

 

Thank you,

Hyunjee Kim

Vandôme

Dear Ms. Sarah,

 

First of all, I am happy to participate in this e-discussion.

 

It is difficult to categorize and classify social challenge itself because it occurs differently according to the region, generation, and other conditions.

Specifically, main issues of social challenges include race, women, family, teenagers, elders, and population…etc. I want to cover the “Sewol ferry disaster” that made whole Korea mourn as an example of how the current policy framework addressed the challenge.

 

Sinking of the Sewol ferry occurred on the morning of April 16, 2014 in South Korea. It left from Incheon to Jeju carrying 476 people who were mostly students from “Danwon High school”. The accident happened by allowing water to flow into the ferry. The ferry extremely started to tilt to one side and water started to fill the place. Then at last it started to sink deeply in to ocean. Until this point, people might think it was just an accident; however, the captain of the Sewol ferry announced the people to stay still while the ferry was tilting more and he escaped that ferry alone. This accident led 304 passengers to death and only 172 of them were saved.

 

This accident was a big social challenge in Korea and even worldwide. Whole Korea mourned for the innocent students and people who died. Why did this become such a social problem? Firstly, it was due to the irresponsible caption and the company. The company that preferred only profit resulted overload of luggage and improper inspection. And from that irresponsible company made the irresponsible captain who left 476 people in the sinking ferry. However, how did the current policy framework address this irresponsibility? Only few years in prison. This should not have been done this way. Additionally, while rescuing the people, there were wrong information that reported all the people escaped safely from the ferry. After that, it took a long time for the rescue to be started. There were some ideas of using machines to save them which postponed the rescue that later on, ordinary citizens worked together and went into the ocean to rescue them. Yet, at that time it was too late to save all the people from that cold water. Did the current policy framework address this problem properly? I would probably say no. If they had not taken long time for one decision everytime, there would have been more people alive now. In my opinion, with current social policy nothing would be solved without sacrifice.

 

Shifting to the next question, among the social issues we are facing, what would be the most pressing emerging challenge today? There are lots of social challenges that include race, women, family, teenagers, elders, population and otherwise like I’ve mentioned above. However, in my opinion, wouldn’t lacking resource be the most severe emerging challenge? People’s interest for disappearing resources is not as much as the interest for new i-phones and Smartphones. Lacking resource resulted from overuse of human kind and the pollutions due to development in the countries. This has become a severe issue since the beginning of 21st century. When this happens, there will be social challenges as well as environmental challenges since social challenges go along with economic and environmental challenges. There will be high possibility of selling these resources in high price and some suggest it might end up as a resource war among the countries. What might be the solutions for this challenge? Currently, new energy resources are being invented, increase in investment on natural resources, and saving the oil resource. However, this will not be solved only with the solutions we have for now; there should be a better solution for this severe challenge today.

 

Thank You

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado

On the ferry disaster.

 

I shall not be politically correct (have never been by the way), so we can talk about that disaster objectively. In the extended sense, you can describe the event as a social disaster, but in practical terms, it represents an instance of a social practice carried out in a slack and slovenly was that is disgraceful.

 

Marine transport is a social practice with its own set of norms. These include observing the maximum permissible tonnage of the vessel, adequate safety procedures and equipment on board, adequacy of the engine, fuel supply and navigation equipment on board, etc. But most importantly, competence and the service standard among  the officers and men.

 

The behaviour of the ‘captain’ of the doomed ferry clearly shows that the man is not fit to command even a canoe in a puddle. Once, the standard was women and children off first, and then the men passengers, and the captain left the ship last as befits is role as the commanding officer.

 

All this was lost when the cancer of economy  forced the owners of ships to ‘automate’ everything including steering a ship in foul weather, cut the content of officer and seaman training, and worst of all, their professional pride. Well, who can be pround of a job that consisted mostly of button pushing?

 

Economy cannot afford to employ officers and men who possess professional pride and a sense of responsibility. It wants semi-automata who will do everything to earn money to their employers by cutting every possible corner at the risk of passengers’ lives. So, I am not surprised at all, what surprises me is that that such events are not more frequent.

 

What to do about it? I see only one alternative, viz., continued public boycott of the company whose internal policies have led to the employment of such an incompetent ship’s master. They do not understand reason or ethical norms, but do understand loss of profit.

 

Lal Manavado.

 

 

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 17 April 2015 15:07
To: Lal Manavado
Subject: [World We Want 2015] Ha Yeong Kim College Student from Republic of Korea commented on the Discussion "Week 2 (13 – 17 April): Social policy: new trends and challenges "

 

You can post a

Vandôme

Considero que un desafío a futuro es el tema migratorio y las políticas sociales enfocadas a estos grupos. Un buen ejemplo, el cual otros países deberían considerar, es el esfuerzo que hace hoy en día Noruega. En este país se capacita a los inmigrantes, de forma que puedan entrar al mercado laboral. Esto debido a que, si bien Noruega tiene una alta tasa de empleabilidad, en este grupo, dicha tasa es considerablemente más baja. También muchas veces se puede ver que son los inmigrantes quiénes se ven más afectados por temas de pobreza, discriminación e indigencia, entre otros.

La migración es parte de la realidad actual por lo que es importante pensar en políticas que nos ayuden a lidiar con ella y a asegurar la calidad de vida de esta población. Es importante pensar e implementar políticas en este tema hoy, debido a que aún hay países no tiene un alto porcentaje de inmigración. Si bien, son políticas que no siempre son muy populares, esto no significa que no sean necesarias o que la no implementación de estas hará que la migración deje de existir.

Todo esto siempre teniendo en cuenta, lo que muchos han planteado en este foro, un enfoque integral en las políticas y en la firma de abordar las soluciones a estos temas. Porque preocuparse solo de un área de la vida de las personas, no hace necesariamente que si calidad de vida mejore. 

Vandôme

Estimada Karla,

Concuerdo plenamente contigo.  Los países que recientemente se han vuelto receptores de migrantes (a mayore scala que los flujos de décadas anteriores) deben tener en consideración a este grupo al momento de diseñar e implementar sus políticas sociales. Un buen inicio es la revisión de las leyes migratorias (destacan casos como Argentina, cuya ley de migración marca vanguardia en esta materia, en contraste con la ley chilena, sumamente desactualizada). Los inmigrantes tienden a ser parte de los grupos más vulnerables de la sociedad, por lo que es indispensable que las legislaciones en cuanto a su incorporación tanto al mercado laboral como al sistema de protección social y de salud se flexibilicen de modo tal de ofrecer oportunidades y no representar barreras.

 

 

Vandôme

Si nos vamos más allá del elemento metodológico, las políticas sociales pueden abarcar diversos temas. Sin embargo, un componente transversal dentro de ella es temas que se han tocado en este foro, que van desde la equidad de género, medioambiental e inequidad hasta la perspectiva de zonas vulnerables en caso de catástrofe. Si bien estas últimas pasan a ser políticas sociales de tipo coyuntural y en contexto de emergencia, su implementación involucra mayores recursos e impacto a corto y largo plazo. Las políticas de índole social usualmente intentan abarcar perspectivas de igualdad de oportunidades, que en el caso de Chile actualmente se intenta abarcar a través de la reforma tributaria y la reforma educacional, intentando superar la serie de deficiencias en torno a la desigualdad y la necesidad de endeudamiento para tener que acceder a la educación superior considerando ésta un derecho básico.

 

Vandôme
Click here to view summary of the E-dialogue
Thank you for your participation in a very insightful e-Dialogue on "Rethinking and Strengthening Social Development in the Contemporary World" and the post-2015 agenda. In our e-Dialogue, we have seen many comments related to education, health, employment, poverty reduction, social protection, social transfer programmes, innovation, information and communication technologies, water, sanitation, youth, gender, older persons, persons with disabilities and indigenous people.

If the main feature of the post-2015 development agenda is to take a holistic and integrated approach to address complex and inter-related global challenges, there is a need for a fundamental shift in policy approach, institutional mechanisms, and above all the mind sets of policy-makers. As we look towards the SDGs, we also need to ensure that we are engaging all sectors as well as all stakeholders.

We must promote a holistic approach which would allow breaking down silos and design policies and programmes in a way that “the whole is larger than the sums of the parts".

And lastly, in order to make social progress and improve the quality of life for all people to live with dignity, we need a more coherent overarching social policy framework under which each policy is implemented to achieve common social development objectives.

Once again, we would thank all of you for valuable contributions to this lively and informative e-Dialogue. We hope you will continue to give further thought on the topics and questions raised during this dialogue in the months leading up to September and the launch of the Post-2015 development agenda (SDGs).

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado
A few thoughts on the way forward. While many important contributions have been made to the current online discussions, I have noticed one crucial lack in the general framework within which they have been conducted. I fear that this may promote rather than lessen the tendency towards a fragmented approach to what may emerge as the final 2015 agenda rather than promote a holistic approach. Moreover, it would also result in  allocation of the scarce resources to more vociferous groups rather than to those who living conditions are truely appalling. This misallocation of resources would lead to an inevitable ill will among the deprived groups, when cooperation among them is the only way forward. A cursory glance at the current set of SDG's and their sub-goals is sufficient to show that they lack logical cohesion and instantiate the result of a classical reductive approach, and not the product of a holistic analysis. This being so, it is difficult to envisage how such a result may be achieved through a holistic approach, for it is difficult to device holistic ways and means of attaining reductive goals. I think even at this late stage, it would be salutory for both the decision-makers and the technicians to recall that the purpose of the present endeavour is to ameliorate the living conditions of several million people as soon as possible, for their sufferings go on and on while the their numbers are increasing daily. If they can agree on this obvious down-to-earth principle, and are willing to think in a cohesive and coherent manner, there is yet hope for those people. Once we agree on the above, we encounter two  main issues; what means of amelioration is most appropriate and what resources are needed to apply such means as effectively as possible. The suitability of a given means of amelioration depends on the goal its use is intended to achieve. In the current SDG proposals goals are identified at a level far removed from the daily life of the people whom the proposals are intended to help. To put it bluntly, access to energy can hardly improve the living conditions of the millions of street-dwellers, be they live in New York or in Calcutta. It is here the lack of holism becomes so glaringly evident. If we asked ourselves the simple question, what would be the most reasonable way of ameliorating a deprived individual's life, the obvious answer would be, by enabling that person to adequately satisfy one's fundamental needs which that person is now unable to meet. Here, we appreciate that the individual need may be single or multiple. At the same time, if we practise what we preach with respect to culture,  we will admit that one satisfies one's fundamental needs with reference to one's chosen cultural norms. During the past two years of online discussions, very little has been said about showing even a modicum of respect to the cultural diversity of the world. Rather, most comments had a tendency to be statistical in their justification, it gave the impression of being a discussion about how to improve millions of poorly performing machines built more or less to the same specifications! The current SDG proposals do not seem to acknowledge the self-evident fact that human well-being in all its aspects is inextricably linked to the well-being of our environment. While we claim to  employ scientific methods, our behaviour reflects the religious belief that humans have some sort of right to 'exploit' nature as though they are not a part of it! I think it is high time that we  started to think of co-existence with nature rather than 'taming', 'fighting', 'mastering' it, etc. So, it would be reasonable to say that the post-2015 endeavour ought to be concerned with enabling the deprived to adequately meet their fundamental needs in a way that entails no harm to our habitat. In the past online discussions, attempts had been made to bring in religion, but fortunately without much impact. However, unless some restrictions are in place, one can still meet one's needs at somebodyelse's expense. I hold that ethical restraints are not only a hall mark of civilised behaviour, but are more effective than  the legal restraints. Thus, we have what may serve as the general means of achieving 2015 goal of ameliorating the lives of the deprived millions, viz., enabling them to satisfy their fundamental needs with reference to their chosen cultural norms in a way that entails no harm to our common environment and to the others. Without going into details, I've used the term 'fundamental' above, because those needs are universal irrespective of culture and  other varaibles. Tehy are nutrition, health, education, security, procreation, and what I have called the set of non-material needs, which includes esthetic pleasure, games and sports, and leisure activities. Security in this wide sense subsumes shelter and clothes to secure oneself from the weather, war, crime, other sources of violence and social descrimination which seems to have received a disproportionately high degree of attention owing to the vociferousness of its advocates. In a world where humanity has its deserved priority over the personal reasons, the plight of the homeless both in the affluent and poor countries would be attended to as soon as possible. So would hunger and ill-health, which are immediate and urgent needs, even more urgent that the horror of homelessness. As these are urgent problems, it would be necessary to resort to a two-pronged approach. While a  short term programme may be used to as a stop-gap measure, a long term action would aim at enabling the needy to help themselves. This requires education and training and suitable material endowments so that more and more would be able to fend for themselves. Here, I do not mean the modern 'education' designed to mass produce office or factory employable man-units. Rather, people who have developed  their inborn skills and who are aware of what is happening in the real world, and know how to live as befit civilised men or women. Now I come to a very tricky bit, viz., the material endowment at an individual level. For instance,  a boy may find he has a talent for carpentry. After his training, he might start for himself making high quality products, but he needs  tools and materials to start. I do not believe bank loans  and similar arrangements would suit the purpose, for they are too impersonal, hence unreliable should one face some adverse eventuality. In poor countries, a doctor may encounter the very same problem when starting to practise independently. As we often take infra-structural services for granted, we forget their availability is a part of  a material endowment by a community on its members. Once we grasp this, it is easy to see why 'the rulers' of a community are delegated the job of providing them. So, pipe-borne drinking water, sanitation, education, power supply, transport, telecommunications etc., has their value with reference to their role in enabling an individual to  meet one's fundamental needs as mentioned above. This is why some people will still not value certain facilities as others do. Either they have no real use for them, or it is not included in their cultural norms. Going over to a less sensitive, but even thornier area, it is clear that the individual material endowments will be very costly indeed. But, the largest part of world's financial resources are sequestered in the hands of a few, so the amount of available resources does not allow such individual endownments without impoverishing the majority outside the 'rich minority'. So, let us face the inevitable, and bite the gold bullet, I think it is unfair that any individual or a body of people concealed behind a 'coporate entity'  should possess financial resources beyond a certain limit. The current primitive notion of economy allows the individual unlimited profit, which nurtures greed, and to satisfy that greed, it promotes unbridled consumerism, which leads to environmental degradation and the poor getting poorer, while the rich get richer. This is insane, but shorn of its pseudo-scientific gloss, this is modern economy in a nutshell. It's time we changed it, its can't be worse, so any change in it would be for the better. Lal Manavado. 
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 11 June 2015 15:41
To: Lal Manavado
Subject: [World We Want 2015] csocd54 Moderator commented on the Discussion "Week 2 (13 – 17 April): Social policy: new trends and challenges "

Yo