Revenue and environmentalism: Can a carbon tax help the environment and fund social programs?
[This post was inspired by a recent New York Times article, “Carbon Taxes Make Ireland Even Greener”; published December 28, 2012] Climate change is the biggest issue in environmentalism today. … Continue reading
Some problems with pension
For most people, there are at least two significant phases in life in which you are economically dependent on others: during your childhood and during old age. Most national societies … Continue reading
Co-opting stakeholders in democratic social policy making
One way to look at a functioning democracy is to describe how different stakeholder groups, or people with a keen personal interest in an issue, get their needs addressed by … Continue reading
Gestalt (Post 1)
Efficiency Concerns and the Pursuit of Expansive Knowledge It’s difficult and time consuming to become an intellectual jack of all trades. It’s even more difficult for a non-specialist to make … Continue reading
Human Development and Capability Association, 2012 Annual Conference in Jakarta
I end my long hiatus with the following brief description of this year’s HDCA conference. Development studies have come a long way since the decades of overt paternalism and condescension … Continue reading
Neoliberalism and social policy: A problematic combination during a recession?
Before I launch into an explanation and partial critique of neoliberalism’s effect on social policy, the spirit and aim of welfare services bears repeating. Social services like unemployment assistance, health … Continue reading
Interdisciplinarity and the search for collective self-actualization
The first chapter of Hartley Dean’s Social Policy emphasizes the high potential for interdisciplinary frameworks in the field. Dean states, “[Social policy] brings in ideas and analytical methods from sociology, … Continue reading
Social policy and soft power: How institutions can boost a nation’s international status
Joseph S. Nye of Harvard University popularized the concept of “soft power” when addressing the growing importance of China in the Asian community. More traditional modes of power, e.g. economic … Continue reading
Beyond rationalism: the moral dimension of state motivation
Rationalism, or the idea that agents guide their behaviors based on an understanding of fundamentally material self-interest, dominates most theoretical and applied treatments of topics in political economy. In other … Continue reading
The Comparative Institutionalist Approach: the Best Method for Understanding International Political Economy and Social Policies?
As our understanding increases and global institutions become more complex, it is less and less likely for a single monolithic grand theory to properly explain the inner workings of all … Continue reading
Think Out Loud 