A New Perspective on Social Development: Social Quality and its Potential Role for Public Policy Making

Tetsuo Ogawa, Ph.D. Faculty of Law and Economics

Chiba University

The Structure of The Structure of Presentation:Presentation:

1. Governance and Well-being Approach issues to research Public Policies

2. Social Quality2.1. Social Quality Index 2.2. A Socio-philosophical Approach of Social Quality2.3. Empirical Research Projects under the EU

3. Conclusion

1. Governance and Well-being Approach Issues to Research Public Policies

Governance: Governance: The The WeberianWeberian state versus the post modern statestate versus the post modern state

• Weberian bureaucratic state vs. A post modern state• Government Governance • Hierarchy (Weberian) Heterarchy (network, etc) • Power (1): zero-sum game positive-sum game • Power (2): concentrated diffuse • Elitist Pluralist • Unitary, centralised, Decentralised, fragmented, • monolithic state hollowed state • Strong, central executive Segmented executive • Clear lines of accountability Blurred/fuzzy lines of

accountability • State central control State central steering • Single homogeneous public Heterogeneous service cultures

ethos

Two Approaches for WellTwo Approaches for Well--beingbeing

• Right:• Concept:• Policy:• Achievement:• Priority and Purposes:• For what countries applicable?

1) Achieving Human Welfare:Human Right; Human Right Policy(?); Human Welfare, Protection and Securityfrom the Dimension of Warfare State Demolition (Priorities: Subsistence Well-being

and Eradicating Absolute Poverty)

= A Developmental State Policy?

2) Achieving Social Welfare: Social Right; Social Policy; Social Welfare, Protection and Security; from the Dimension of Welfare State Development (Priority: Eradicating Relative Poverty)

= A Developed State Policy?

3) Convergence: A Concept of Human Security under the UN

framework? Issues beyond the national borders

4) Options and Choices: The Role of Public Policies (e.g. Economic, Social and Cultural Policy) to attain

Human Welfare ?or

Social Welfare ?

The Interlink of 3 Fare

Dimensions and approaches to discuss European and Asian States (EU Member States and Asian Countries) by the following three main issues:

• Warfare The Role of State,

• Welfare Society or • Workfare The Social

Governance:Governance:(Multi(Multi--Levels and under the UN based framework)Levels and under the UN based framework)

Security

Human Welfare Well-being Environment

Economy

2. Social Quality

Social Quality:Social Quality:

• Social quality differs from quality of life in that it has a highly developed theoretical basis and is not simply a collection of domains. Moreover, with regard to measurement, it is assumed that social quality domains, sub-domains and indicators can be linked to the theory underlying it. The idea of social quality was developed in the mid-1990s following a series of scientific and policy-oriented meetings in Europe.

• It was created as a reaction to (and possible antidote for) the longstanding subordination of social policy to economic policy. In the 1990s this conflict was highly visible in the European Union (EU) as the convergence criteria for economic and monetary union resulting in reductions in social spending and increases in unemployment.

The Social Quality of Europe (1997)Social Quality: A Vision for Europe (2001)Conditions for Social Quality in Europe and related

indicators (forthcoming in 2007)

Social policy

Social quality/Social cohesion

Competitiveness/Dynamism Full employment/Quality of work

Economic policy Employment policy

The policy mixes to be established to create a virtuous circle of economic and social progress should reflect the inter-dependence of these policies and aim to maximise their mutual positive reinforcement.

Source: European Commission (2000)

The European Policy Triangle

Respect for the fundamental dignity of all citizens requires us to declare that we do not want to see growing numbers of beggars, tramps and homeless people in the cities of Europe. Nor can we countenance Europe with large numbers of unemployed, growing numbers of poor people and those who have only limited access to health care and social services. These and many other indicators demonstrate the current inadequacy of Europe to provide social quality for all its citizens.

The Amsterdam Declaration on the Social Quality of Europe in 1997

The SocialThe Social qualityquality--Concept and its Conceptual Concept and its Conceptual FrameworkFramework

1. Conceptual Framework: (1) What are Public Affairs? (2) The Social Quality Approach (3) Two Main Approaches to attain Well-being

2. Issues: (1) The EU and Asia Collaborations? (2) Governance: Security, Environment, Human Welfare and Economy

An Overview of the Four Conceptual An Overview of the Four Conceptual FrameworksFrameworks

•

Ontology epistemology main advocates•

Mechanic-utilitarism Positivistic methodological Vilfredo Pareto• Individualism Friedrich Hayeck• Constructive-voluntarism hermeneutic methodological Max Weber• Individualism Jurgen Habermas• Dialectical materialism relational collectivism Karl Marx/Friedrich • Engels/Bertell Ollman• Structural functionalism positivistic collectivism Emile Durkheim• Talcott Parsons

‘‘The SocialThe Social’’ perspectiveperspective

• The Social: A normative foundation and ethical legitimization, to add to policy making, implementation and operational issues (efficiency and equity) in order to produce well-being (individual and collective) under a coherent theory of a social well-being concept, policy and practice.

Conceptual Framework: Conceptual Framework: What are What are Public AffairsPublic Affairs? ? ––Anthropological AssumptionAnthropological Assumption

Substantial Relational

Self-realisation Capability of self-organisation

Social organisation

Collective identity

Collectivisation/ promotion of interests

Public affairs

The SocialThe Social: the Architecture of the Constitutional Assumptions of : the Architecture of the Constitutional Assumptions of the Socialthe Social qualityquality--conceptconcept

The Social

Self-realisation Forming of collective identity

Public Affairs

Needs Norms Interests Values Preferences Principles

(2) The Social Quality Approach: An Increasing Role of (2) The Social Quality Approach: An Increasing Role of Social Policy to Economic PolicySocial Policy to Economic Policy

1) Outcomes of APEC Official SymposiumBeyond national borders; there still remain social

issues? 2) Frame of Reference concerns the Dialectic

between Economic and Social policiesEconomic polices social polices[its subject matter remained implicit] [its subject matter is social quality]

‘The Social’ and the Public and Private Sector

Public Sector (Government)

Private Sector (Market)

The Social(INGOs, NGOs)

The Informal Sector

‘‘The SocialThe Social’’

• The first assumption: the social being of people• The second assumption: constitutive interdependency• The third assumption: the context for constitutive

interdependency

The Connection betweenThe Connection betweenSecond and Third AssumptionSecond and Third Assumption

• Societal Development •• Interference with Interference with• const. inderdep. const. interdep.•

• Systems Communities • Institutions constitutive configurations• organisations interdependency networks

••

interference with interference with• const. interdep. const. interdep•• Biographical Development

The SocialThe Social qualityquality--concept:concept:

• The Social quality-concept differs from quality of life in that it has a highly developed theoretical basis and is not simply a collection of domains.

• It was created as a reaction to the longstanding subordination of social policy to economic policy.

• In the 1990s, this conflict was highly visible in the EU as the convergence criteria for economic and monetary union resulting in reductions in social spending and increases in unemployment. = Similar with the before Post-Washington Consensus

What is What is Social QualitySocial Quality??

• Social quality is a comprehensive conception of the quality of people's daily lives. It is a function of the constant tension between individual self-realisation and participation in the various collective identities that constitute everyday life, which takes place within a social context comprising two well-known fields of action.

• On the one hand, there is the contrast between biographical and societal development (agency and social structure) and, on the other hand, there is the contrast between the world of organisations and the one comprising informal relationships (system and life world).

• Social quality is proposed as a goal not only of social policy, but also of economic, environmental and other relevant policies for ensuring human well-being and happiness.

• Therefore, social quality is seen very much as a humanistic antidote to the utilitarian and ubiquitous practice of equating quality of life with income or wealth.

• The Social quality-concept provides instruments for citizens to assist them in acting consistently in the face of the increasingcomplexities of daily circumstances.

• The need for this new approach is demonstrated, for example, by the dilemmas facing citizens and governments and in many cities.

• The far-reaching demographic and socio-economic changes taking place demand new interpretations in order to maintain, at least, the equilibrium of daily life.

• Traditional economic and individual oriented analytical tools and indicators are insufficient to explain and to address this revolt.

The SocialThe Social and and Social QualitySocial Quality

Economic polices social policies cultural policies politics

Social Quality[its subject matter is the social ]

The Relationship between The Relationship between the the Social qualityquality--concept concept

and other welfare conceptsand other welfare concepts

Welfare concepts

Quality of Life Quality of Society

More special issues More comprehensive

Social cohesion exclusion social capital livability social quality

sustainability human development

A Social Quality ApproachA Social Quality Approach::

Four Conditional Factors of Social Quality• Socio-economic security• Social inclusion• Social cohesion• Social empowerment

The Domains of the Conditional FactorsThe Domains of the Conditional Factors

• Socio-economic security Social cohesion• Financial resources Trust• Housing and environment Other integrative norms • Health and care and values• Work social networks• Education identity•

Social inclusion Social empowerment• Citizenship rights Knowledge base• Labour market Labour market• Services (public and private) Supportiveness of institutions• Social networks Public space• Personal relations

Constitutional Conditional Normative Personal security Socio-economic security Social justice

Social recognition Social inclusion Solidarity

Social responsiveness Social cohesion Human dignity

Personal capacity Social empowerment Democratic citizenship

Social Quality Factors

1) 1) Changes of the Role of State and Welfare Provision ModeChanges of the Role of State and Welfare Provision Mode

• Society? – the Role of State in Welfare Provision • Development of Civil Society • Levels of Society (mirco, meso and macro)• Transformation and Discourse of Decentralizing Welfare

Provision from ‘Welfare State’ to ‘Welfare Society’• Social Policy and Development – Social Policy as a

Productive Factor for Societal, Social and State Development (3S Developments)

2) 2) The State Function and Role of Public PolicyThe State Function and Role of Public PolicyM

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Potential of Social Quality• societal focus• emphasis on outcomes for citizens• open about normative aspects• measurement culturally neutral

A Potential of Social Quality Approach

social quality: maximising the chances for the constitutional and conditional factorsopportunity for political legitimacy

• The failure of social policy to counteract these developments, because of its unequal relationship with economic policy, called for a new approach aimed at establishing a balance between economic and social development (EFSQ, 2006).

• In terms of policy application, social quality claims wide relevance partly because of its grounded nature and partly because it refers to all policies relevant to everyday life and all parts of the policy process under the coherency of a social well-being Concept, Policy and Practice with theoretically grounded socio-economic indicators. Its ambition is to provide a vision for policy makers and citizens alike as well as a practical measuring rod.

The Integrative Role of Social Quality

Well-being(needs and preferences)

PolicyActors

Policies

SOCIALQUALITY

A Potential of Social Quality Approach

..A Potential of the Social Quality Approach

• Four Constitutional Factors in the Societal Process, Bio-graphical Process, System, Institutions and Organisations and Communities, Groups and Citizens

• Four Conditional Factors: Socio-economic security; Social cohesion; Social inclusion and Social empowerment

∇∇∇Four Normative Factors of Social Quality

SQ and its Indicators can examine the extent to which citizens are able to participate in the social and economic life of their communities under conditions, which enhance their well-being and individual potential.

Societal Development

Systems CommunitiesInstitutions FamiliesOrganisations Groups

Biographical Development

Two Basic Reciprocal Tensions

Societal Development

Socio-economic SocialSecurity Cohesion

Systems CONDITIONS FOR Communities

Institutions SOCIAL QUALITY FamiliesOrganizations Groups

Social SocialInclusion Empowerment

Biographical Development

The Quadrangle of the Conditional Factors

The Concept of The Concept of Social QualitySocial Quality.

SocioSocio--Economic SecurityEconomic Security: Domain of : Domain of ‘‘Societal DevelopmentSocietal Development’’ and and ‘‘Systems, Institutions and Systems, Institutions and OrganisationsOrganisations’’

• Maintenance of health • Employment and labour market security • Material (income) security • Housing market and living security • Food safety• Environmental issues • Life chances

….. is the extent to which people have sufficient resources over time.

Social InclusionSocial Inclusion: Domain of : Domain of ‘‘Systems, Institutions and Systems, Institutions and OrganisationsOrganisations’’ and and ‘‘BioBio--graphical Processesgraphical Processes’’

• Employment and labour market inclusions • Health service coverage • Inclusions in education systems and services• Housing market inclusion• Inclusion in social security system • Social dialogue

….. is the extent to which people have access to institutions and social relations.

Social CohesionSocial Cohesion: Domain of : Domain of ‘‘Societal DevelopmentSocietal Development’’ and and ‘‘Communities, configuration and Communities, configuration and groupsgroups’’• Public safety • Inter-generational solidarity • Social status and economic cohesion • Social capital • Networks and trust • Altruism

........ is the nature of social relations based upon shared identities, values and norms.

Social EmpowermentSocial Empowerment: Domain of : Domain of ‘‘BioBio--graphical Processesgraphical Processes’’ and and ‘‘Communities, Configuration Communities, Configuration and Groupsand Groups’’

• Social and cultural empowerment • Social mobility• Economic empowerment • Social psychological empowerment

.........is the extent to which the personal capabilities of individual people and their ability to act are enhanced by social relations.

• This ambition has begun to be realised by the adoption of Social Quality by the European Commission in its Social Agenda, and

• it has been considered to implement under several policy frames such as the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the United Nations Programme on Ageing in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, as outcome indicators to measure the effectiveness of international development policy.

• The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has also held several research seminars on this subject to find out an applicability of this concept for its AID strategy.

• This concept and its movement are based upon the core parts of the Report of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Expert Group Meeting on setting the Agenda of the High-level Meeting of the Regional Review of the Implementation of the Shanghai Implementation Strategy for the Madrid and Macao Plans of Action on Ageing held in Shanghai, China, in July 2006 (UNESCAP, 2006).

SQ Policy Group 1 : Quality ofSQ Policy Group 1 : Quality of the Socialthe Social

• Public Health Security/Policy• Food Security/Policy• Health Care Policy and Long Term Care Policy• Income Maintenance and Social Security/Policy• Employment Security/Policy• Education and Training Policy• Housing Security/Policy• Environmental Security/Policy

SQ Group 2: SQ Group 2: SecuringSecuring the Society and the Society and DevelopingDeveloping the Statethe State

• National Security/Policy • Public Security/Policy and Criminal Justice Policy• Science and Technology Policy• Cultural Policy• Industrial Policy

The Four Components of The Four Components of Social QualitySocial QualitySubject Matter and Theoretical Impacts (2001: 343)Subject Matter and Theoretical Impacts (2001: 343)

Subject matter Theoretical impacts

1 Socio-economic Security Social risks social inequalitylife-chances welfare pluralism

enabling state third sector

2 Social cohesion strength or weakness social cohesion/ of primary relations social dissolution

differentiation/integration

3 Inclusion Citizenship inclusion/exclusiondifferentiation/ integration

4 Empowerment increasing range network theories of human choice Civil society

Social Quality as an Analytical ToolSocial Quality as an Analytical Tool

• Welfare Regimes East and West• Approaches to Welfare Development: East and West• A Social Quality Approach to Sustainable Development and

Civil Society Development in Asia

• Different political foundations for welfare

• Welfare states and welfare societies

Two caveats:

Different Welfare Regimes

• Low spending on welfare• Emphasis on societal role• Selectivity and funded pensions

Factors in welfare regime development

• development• political ideology• authoritarianism• colonialism• ethnicity• gender

Welfare Regime in Asia and the Pacific

• Environmental sustainability• Sustainable development• Welfare sustainability

- dominant economic rationale- generational equity/conflict- the invisibility of the Social

The Concept of 'Sustainability'

Approaches to Sustainable Developmentand Civil Society Development

1) …to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.

European Council, Lisbon, March 2000

2) a guiding principle of the new Social Policy Agenda will be to strengthen the role of social policy as a productive factor.

European Commission, 2000

The key ingredients to successful social development appear to be responsive governance, socially friendly economic policies, and the universal provisioning of social services. In all these endeavours the role of government is central.

Chen and Desai, (1997, 432)

• Differences reflecting models and path development• Similarities:

- influences of IGOs- narrow construction of sustainability (the invisibility of the social)- absence of recipient perspectives- questions about legitimacy

beyond the bottom-up and top-down approaches

Some Considerations

2.1 2.1 Social Quality IndSocial Quality Index ex (SQI)(SQI)

• From October 2001 until 2005 the EFSQ co-ordinated the European Thematic Network on Indicators of Social Quality (ENIQ). This Network project was funded by the Fifth Framework Programme of DG Research of the European Commission.

• The Network consisted of university partners of fourteen countries: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and two international NGO-partners: the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN). As a result of the efforts and commitment of the participants, the Network was able to deliver substantial additional outputs beyond those originally envisaged.

• These include major explorations of the four conditional factors of Social Quality - socio-economic security, social cohesion, social inclusion and social empowerment - all of which are key concepts for European policy; important theoretical development of the concept of Social Quality; and fourteen national surveys of the current trends in Social Quality.

• Although much of the work of the Network was concerned with the detailed and laborious examination of specific indicators the policy implications of its work are highly significant.

• In contrast to previous attempts to measure living standards, social exclusion or, more generally, quality of life, the Network has provided the basis for a holistic and theoretically grounded approach to both understanding and measuring the quality of social life as lived, day to day, by citizens in all European countries. This movement has been transferred to the Asian and Pacific region by the initiative of Chiba University and the European Foundation on Social Quality.

2.2 A Socio2.2 A Socio--philosophical approach of Social Qualityphilosophical approach of Social Quality

• As one of the results of the theoretical work the EFSQ, in co-operation with the University of Tilburg and the University of Humanistics, is developing a project on the socio-philosophical approach of Social Quality. This project aims at developing a broader concept of a communicative life world, which can help to bridge the gap between social theory, social policy and empirical research.

• To this end a paradigmatic ambivalence within the Social Quality approach, manifesting an analogous ambivalence in Habermas' theory is analysed and remedied by reinterpreting and broadening his analysis of the constitution of the social life world. Firstly, the project aims at a reinterpretation of anthropological theories about the bodily infrastructure of human life, its fragility and its finitude in the context of a social life world.

• Secondly, contemporary theories about the narrative constitution of identities and the cultural encoding of social life-worlds will be used. They will relate widely diverging individual articulations of Social Quality to broadly shared moral themes and existential dilemmas.

• Along these lines, Habermas's rather formal and procedural conception of inter-subjectivity is given more 'social body', leading to a better interrelation of social theory, social policy and empirical research, which presents the main ambition of the Social Quality Approach.

• This project is supported by the Dutch Scientific Fund (NWO). The results of this project will be published in the European Journal of Social Quality, Volume 7, Issue 1 (2007).

2.3 Empirical Research Projects under the EU2.3 Empirical Research Projects under the EU

1) Urban development and local governance: Empirical testing of the Social Quality theory:the case of the city of The Hague

2) Modern Public Health3) Employment and Labour Market

1) Urban development and local governance: empirical 1) Urban development and local governance: empirical testing of the Social Quality theory: the case of the City of testing of the Social Quality theory: the case of the City of The HagueThe Hague

• The startIn April 2004 the municipality of the City of The Hague involved the EFSQ in the discussion about the city's development. The question was how Social Quality can lead to new ideas of urban development. The City of The Hague is coping with the consequences of demographic changes (multi-culturality), economic changes (interrelationships with European processes), changes in local governance (i.e. as a result of privatisation and a retreating government) and its growing role at the international level (i.e. its role for the United Nations).

• However, these challenges are not unique for The Hague, many cities in The Netherlands and other European countries find themselves confronted with changes asking for new forms of local governance. Forthcoming is a research paper how to apply some principles of the Social Quality approach to urban issues.

• First exploration

In 2005 the EFSQ was invited by the City of The Hague to hold in-depth-interviews with fifteen directors of crucial not-for-profit organisations in the area of education, healthcare, social housing etc. on their ideas about actual urban changes and challenges of the city.

The four conditional factors of Social Quality (socio-economic security, social cohesion, social inclusion and social empowerment as explained in the research paper) played a central role in this exploration, published in the beginning of 2006.

The general conclusions were that:(i) as a result of recent forms of privatisation all of these crucial organisations contributing to the living conditions of citizens have become more and more independent from the municipality, although at the same time,

(ii) effective forms of collaboration for guiding the urban developments are lacking, and

(iii) the political-administrative systems at the level of the municipality is not addressing the consequences of this increasing independence

These conclusions call for the design of new forms of local governance in order to support the sustainability of this city in the near future.

In the past months, the lack of vision and the absence of methods for the modernisation of collaboration between the important actors of the city were debated.

The municipality invited the University of Leiden (located near the City of The Hague) to assist the process of communication between the not-for-profit organisations themselves and between these organisations and the political-administrative system for creating new concepts and practices of local governance.

• The EFSQ was invited to assist by introducing the Social Quality Approach.

• With the help of this approach new ideas about urban sustainability can be developed and connected with ideas for modern local governance.

• This project, in cooperation with twenty not-for-profit organisations, the municipality of The Hague and the University of Leiden can be regarded as an example for Europe as well as Asia how to apply the outcomes of the EFSQ's project on ‘Indicators of Social Quality’ in an urban context.

• Second exploration

In cooperation with the stakeholders (public organisations and private organisations) in City of The Hague and the University of Leiden a strategy was developed to start a process of urban development according to the principles of Social Quality.

According to this approach 'urban development' refers to changes in physical aspects of the City and changes of its infrastructure (education, cultural provisions, welfare provision, health and social care, housing, sport, labour conditions etc).

It not only concerns a collaboration between social actors of these domains, it supposes a change in the way schools or health provisions are functioning in the City.

• The revolution of information, communication and technologies (ICT) will challenge the representatives of these domains to rethink how the four conditional factors of Social Quality should be addressed under modern circumstances.

• Therefore preparations are currently being made for the creation of three local urban practices (experiments) in The Hague how to introduce new forms of education, health care etc and related changes of physical forms. In a traditional sense, all provisions are like islands in the extended neighbourhood.

• By addressing four conditional factors of Social Quality the representatives need to change their minds, their aims and theirbudgets. These urban practices will function as source of inspiration for renewing the vision about the urban development of The Hague as such. Practices and the comprehensive vision will be developed in a reciprocal way.

2) Modern Public Health2) Modern Public Health• Network of Cities for Modern Public Health: An innovative European

project

Providers of health and social care, local governments as well as the health and welfare insurance bodies in cities all over Europe are experiencing serious difficulties in assuring conditions for health and social well being in daily life and appropriate services of health and social care for citizens and customers. The world around us is changing rapidly and we have not yet been able to develop appropriate approaches matching current needs and life styles.

• The SQA addresses individuals in relation to formal structures and social networks in such a way that citizens are empowered to cope with aspects of daily life that matter for health.

• What seems to be missing at the moment is an overall adequate modern theory and related approaches, instruments and infrastructures to define and realise effective health and social policies. Notions like quality of life, empowerment, inclusion, social cohesion and social capital are widely used seductive policy concepts. But these concepts are usually eithertheoretically not elaborated or not interconnected.

• In the SQ theory these concepts are well-defined and interconnected. Therefore policies built on this theory will be more coherent and oriented to be supportive for the daily life of citizens. Intuitively in our cities various good practices of modern public health are being developed.

• They are strongly related to these same notions. With the new theory we have new ideas to analyse, further develop and debate those good practices of modern public health.

• In cooperation with the Bureau of Public Health of the Municipality of The Hague several contacts have been established with potential partners who are interested in the application of the theory of Social Quality to the area of public health.

3) Employment and Labour Market3) Employment and Labour Market

• In April 2002 the EFSQ finished the first project that addressedthe policy field of employment from the Social Quality perspective. This project was financed by the DG Employment and Social Affairs. The first step to studying this field was already made in a special issue of the European Journal of Social Quality (Volume 2, issue 2 (2000), Social Quality of Employment). The main thrust of the research concerned the underdeveloped - so-called 'adaptability-pillar' of the European employment objectives.

• The objective was to develop and apply the concept of adaptability to Europe's labour markets and especially assess the tension between flexibility in working time and employment security. The second objective was to expose how employment affects the Social Quality of the daily circumstances of citizens.

• To this purpose a theoretical connection was made between flexicurity and inclusion, one of the components of Social Quality.

• The nature of flexicurity was measured by indicators on (i) income security, (ii) employment relations, (iii) working time and (iv) forms of care and leave.

The countries covered in this comparative project were Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Some important conclusions could be drawn from this research. High quality employment relations are of prime importance to the future social and economic health of the EU. Few countries meet the standards for a high degree of flexicurity of employees with respect to working time, for instance Belgium and Denmark.

• An increasing number of people become confronted with the problem of a discontinuous work-biography in general. Systems of social security in most countries are not really prepared to cope with this problem. With regard to forms of care and leave, Finland and Denmark lead the pack, and this only underscores the viability of the Nordic social-democratic welfare state.

• The main surprise is, undoubtedly, Portugal. It plans with small means for large ambitions and surpasses wealthy countries like the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. In general, this approach has shown problems related to mostly hidden propositions with regard to the position of men and women in the labour market by highlighting the distinction between paid and unpaid work.

3. Conclusion

Asia, Civil Society and Social Policy:Asia, Civil Society and Social Policy:Some ConsiderationsSome Considerations

Some Issues to Research:1. Societal trends, quality of life and public policies2. New civil society: new compositions of social actors (volunteers

and social entrepreneurs) and organisations (voluntary organisation, NGOs and INGOs) in Asia

3. Finding development models to meet combined societal and economic objectives

4. Asian Value Claim

Asian Value Claim:Asian Value Claim:

1. Value and Norms in the field of Public Policy byredefining them more precisely by the Asian

Barometer

2. Need to employ a Political Theory into the Context of Social Policy and Development?

Some other considerations:

The Role of Values and Norms in Asia, which may be different from conventional views and ways of Policy Analysis from the West ?

1. The Limit of the Application of (Western) Policy Theory into Asia?

2. Combination of Normative and Descriptive Theories (from Policy Theory) for Developing Public Policy Analysis into the context of Asia?

Thank you very much for your attention!

• Contact:

Dr Tetsuo Ogawa, Associate Professor of Public Policy (Research Affiliate, Centre for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, University of Oxford, U.K.) Faculty of Law and EconomicsChiba University 1-33, Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, JapanTel & Fax: +81(0)43-290-3583 E-mail: tetsuo-ogawa@umin.ac.jp