Social Protection in Developing Countries: Reforming Systems(Routledge Explorations in Development Studies)

Providing universal access to social protection and health systems for all members of society, including the poor and vulnerable, is increasingly considered crucial to international development debates. This is the first book to explore from an interdisciplinary and global perspective the reforms of social protection systems introduced in recent years by many governments of low and middle-income countries. Although a growing body of literature has been concerned with the design and impact of social protection, less attention has been directed towards analyzing and explaining these reform processes themselves. Through case studies of African, Asian, and Latin American countries, this book examines the ‘global phenomenon’ of recent social protection reforms in low and middle-income areas, and how it differs across countries both in terms of scope and speed of institutional change. Exploring the major domestic and international factors affecting the political feasibility of social protection reform, the book outlines the successes and failures of recent reform initiatives. This invaluable book combines contributions from both academics and practitioner experts to give students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of social security, economics, law and political science an in-depth understanding of political reform processes in developing countries.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Part 1: Social Protection Reforms: Objectives and Political Economy of Social Protection Reforms 1. Rescuing Social Protection from the Poverty Trap: New Programmes and Historical Lessons 2. Social Protection for Poverty Reduction: Approaches, Effectiveness and Challenges 3. The Political Economy of Social Protection Reforms – What to Explain and How? 4. Social Cohesion: Does it matter for Growth and Development? Part 2: The Legal Framework of Social Protection Reforms 5. The Human Rights-Based Approach to Social Protection 6. The Role of Law and Legal Institutions in the Reform of Social Protection Systems: Experiences from South Africa 7. The Role of the Law of Regional Organisations in Reforms of Social Protection Systems: Portability of Social Security Benefits in the East African Community 8. Reforms of Social Protection Systems in Latin America—The Legal Context Part 3: Political Feasibility of Basic Social Protection 9. Attitudes towards Hard Work and Redistributive Preferences in Developing Countries 10. Populous, Precarious – Protected? The Paradox of Social Security for South Asian Agricultural Workers 11. Whom to Target – An Obvious Choice? 12. How to target – Overview on current targeting methods in social protection Part 4: Social Protection Systems – Between Fragmentation and Integration 13. Building Social Protection and Labour Systems 14. The Political Economy of Social Protection Reforms in Indonesia 15. Social Protection Reforms in Vietnam: Experiences and Challenges 16. Social Protection: Political Reform and Policy Innovations in South Asia 17. Caring for the Urban Middle Class: The Political Economy of Social Protection in Arab Countries Part 5: Social Protection Reforms – International Contexts 18. Building National Social Protection Floors and Social Security Systems: The ILO's Two-Dimensional Social Security Strategy 19. Developing Countries’ Social Protection Measures in Reaction to the Global Economic and Financial Crisis 20. Social Protection and the Four Horsemen of the Donor Apocalypse

About the Author :
Katja Bender is Professor for Economic and Social Development at the International Centre for Sustainable Development, Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Markus Kaltenborn is Professor at the Faculty of Law and Director of the Institute of Development Research and Development Politics, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Christian Pfleiderer is a project leader and head of the sector initiative Development and Integration of Social Protection Systems at the sustainable development specialist Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Germany.

Review :
'I warmly welcome this incisive publication, which makes an important contribution to the growing debate on social protection and its relationship to development, poverty and human rights. Implementing more comprehensive and rights-based social protection systems around the world is an urgent priority; a means to realize human rights, provide a lifeline out of poverty for many millions of people and turn our vision for fairer and more inclusive societies into a reality.' - Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights