全球化与福利国家的未来:议题与展望

Globalization and the Future of Welfare State:Issues and Prospects

近来在比较社会政策的研究中,全球化对于福利国家的冲击引起了很多关注。全球化是否导致了福利国家的退却?通过哪些途径对福利国家产生了冲击?先进国家在面对这些问题时如何根据不同的体制与制度特性而采取不同的回应策略?这些策略对于正在考虑扩张社会保障体系的后进国家有哪些启示?本文首先说明全球化的几个重要面向与相关理论,其次分析目前相关研究中对于全球化与福利国家关系的三重论点。接下来讨论不同福利体制在面对全球化挑战时的回应策略。结论部分指出这些策略对于后进国家福利扩张有学习借鉴之处,特别点出社会照顾可以作为创造当地就业与提升生活品质这一政策目标的有效途径。

The issues of globalization and welfare state have caught the wide attention among comparative social policy researchers and sparkled further debates.Does globalization undermine the foundation of welfare state and cause the retrenchment process?Through which mechanism does globalization exert the impacts on welfare state?How the advanced industrial countries respond to these common challenges given the diverse institutional conditions?What lessons can the late-developed countries can learn from these policy options?This article firstly examines the different dimensions of globalization based on empirical data.Secondly,three approaches for analyzing the relation between globalization and welfare state have been explored.Thirdly,the possible causal mechanisms of globalization on welfare state are analyzed.Fourthly,the diverse policy responses for addressing the increasing social inequality and insecure labor market in advanced countries are scrunitzed.This article concludes with the lessons for late-developed countries from these policies.The social care industry is particularly emphasized for its implication for creating local jobs and improving the quality of life.