Aspalter asserts that the belief that the development of high
standard welfare states is primarily based on the ideology that
pro-welfare, mostly leftwing, parties dominate welfare state
literature and common thought in the Western world. Instead, in
this examination of the welfare states of East Asia, Aspalter and
his contributors show that they grew as naturally as they did in
most Western countries, but that the reasons for this are other
than pro-welfare ideologies. The five welfare states--Japan, South
Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore--are residual welfare
states with low levels of welfare benefits and provision when
compared to extended welfare states in Western Europe. While East
Asian welfare states have experienced a hefty increase in welfare
provision that has been regulated or provided by the state since
the early 1970s, all five were set up and expanded by conservative
governments with clear anti-welfare ideologies.
The case studies provided by Aspalter and his contributors
suggest that welfare state development in East Asia is caused to a
large extent by social protests in general, and, for welfare in
particular, by competition in democratic elections, and by the
changing role of women. Social and demographic factors, such as the
rise of the age structure of the population, do not cause welfare
state expansion in the first place. They cause street protests, and
street protests convince all kinds of governments--if they rule out
the use of force--to implement social welfare. Moreover,
politicians, who are afraid to lose elections, also take up welfare
issues, which they would not do without electoral competition
between candidates and parties. As Aspalter makes clear,
governments do not have to wait until major protests occur or until
they have lost an election in order to promote social welfare. The
anticipation of such an event is sufficient. This book provides new
insights on the development of welfare systems that will be of
particular interest to scholars, students, and other researchers
involved with social welfare, East Asian studies, and comparative
politics.
General
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