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This paper aims to understand coalition building between national and international actors in the context of an emerging subsystem. In applying the Advocacy Coalition Framework to the case of Uruguay, where a new field of social policy – the National Care System – was introduced in 2015 after a process involving different national actors from academia, civil society, politics, and administration, but also United Nations agencies, the paper explores the role of these international organizations in coalition building, and examines how a dominant coalition of national and international actors shaped the development of the new system. Using interview data and documents, the findings suggest that the involvement of international organizations in the coalition was based on shared beliefs and personal and institutional relationships. While powerful opposing coalitions were absent due to the nascent nature of the subsystem, the dominant coalition was able to influence the policy's introduction based on their beliefs regarding gender equality and rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 2 decades, the literature has documented the upsurge of community-driven processes of consumer-producer cooperation, which are alternative to the dominant food system. These organizational arrangements have been conceptualized differently, witnessing the growing importance of local communities in generating place-based solutions to the demand for organic, local, and sustainable food. Relying on a practice theory approach, this article delves into two key inquiries: first, what motivates individuals to become part of Civic Food Networks (CFNs) and how does this influence the variety of food entering their households? And second, how does participation in a CFN impact people's daily food practices, with a particular focus on diet diversification? We employ the term "civic food networks (CFN)" to underscore the significance of grassroots initiatives in the broader context of local food policies. This term also highlights the connections to other movements known for their potential for transformation, such as the solidarity economy, transition towns, and de-growth movements. Our analysis draws on a comprehensive qualitative approach, which includes participant observation, in-depth interviews, and a focus group involving members of the CSA Naturalmente in Trentino, situated in the North-Eastern part of Italy. The findings reveal that altering dietary habits poses various challenges both at the individual and institutional levels. This process involves the stabilization of ingrained habits, adjustments to daily routines, and the reinforcement of shared norms. Furthermore, it underscores the critical role of food policies in promoting sustainable eating practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the factors contributing to the current housing crisis in Greece and to offer a critical assessment of existing interventions on social policy. It focuses on the way in which the multiple crises over the past 15 years and their management have exacerbated social inequalities. Housing represents an illustrative case study. In terms of housing resources, a systematic process of reverse redistribution is attempted, from the lower and middle social classes towards higher ones, by the Greek governments. The framework for managing the existing challenges of housing precariousness, such as rising rents, non-performing loans, foreclosure auctions, energy poverty phenomena, and the privatization of the energy market, as well as the resulting landscapes of humanitarian crisis (homelessness and refugee management), all lead to a deterioration of housing conditions. This phenomenon is inherently connected with the values underlying neoliberal social policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have long investigated the positive link between income and well-being, including its gender difference. However, little is known about (1) how low income is linked to ill-being among women and men; and (2) how their association varies depending on societal-level gender (in)equality. Filling this knowledge gap is crucial not only for scholarship but for social policy to tackle income-based disparities of ill-being. In this study, using the European Social Survey and the joint European Values Study-World Values Survey data, we conduct country-specific regressions and cross-national multilevel analyses to examine the relationship between low income, subjective ill-being (SIB), and macro-level gender parity. We first confirm that low-income individuals, regardless of gender, are more likely than their affluent counterparts to suffer from SIB in many countries. This indicates the applicability of implications derived from conventional approaches focused on the positive association between higher income and better well-being to the studies on low income and SIB. Nevertheless, the SIB risk significantly differs depending on the degree of gender inequality in that (1) both women and men face a higher likelihood of SIB in gender-inegalitarian societies; and importantly, (2) the psychological penalty for the poor is intensified under such gendered circumstances, especially among men. These results suggest that gender inequality not merely induces women's ill-being but punishes low-income men possibly by exacerbating pressure as a breadwinner and imposing stigmas when they cannot meet gendered social expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing current socio-economic crises strains public budgets and may threaten fiscal sustainability. Particularly in the welfare sector, where high expenditures meet poor controllability, efficient resource usage is essential to ensure future governments' capability to act while alleviating current problems. Consequently, this paper asks: why are some countries more efficient in translating social expenditure into welfare outcomes? To answer this question, it is argued that efficiency is a matter of institutional structures and their vertical policy-process integration (VPI): efficiency depends on institutional structures' capability to (1) ensure policymakers' responsibility and to (2) provide coordinated feedback, thus pushing for considerate and informed resource use. Analysing the effect of VPI on the relationship between welfare efforts and social outcomes in 21 OECD countries over three decades, the results show that VPI can not only turn 'less' into 'more', but it also compensates for performance losses in the face of spending cuts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article serves as an introduction to the special section "Vulnerability: An Interdisciplinary Trialogue," which brings together three researchers who have made important contributions to the field of vulnerability studies from different perspectives and in different disciplines: Elodie Boublil, Kate Brown, and Erinn Gilson. At the outset, the article discusses some characteristic features of the current discourse on vulnerability, in particular the question of why the concept of vulnerability is not only very popular but is also often used in such a diverse and vague manner. In addition to an increased multidisciplinary interest, transdisciplinary conflicts over fundamental epistemological, ontological, and methodological positions are identified as an essential factor; furthermore, the plurality and vagueness of the notion are attributed to an increasing "duplication" of vulnerability as an academic concept on the one hand and as an element of cultural semantics and political discourse on the other. The special section discusses this peculiar mixture of popularity, plurality, and vagueness of the vulnerability concept in an interdisciplinary, reflexive, and critical manner. The introduction outlines key aspects of the three contributions to the trialogue and highlights some convergences and common themes. At the end, the three authors are also briefly introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is part of a special section which brings three different approaches to vulnerability into conversation with one another to foster interdisciplinary co-operation in vulnerability studies. The essay focuses on UK-based applied social science research which centres dynamics of care and social control in how vulnerability is created, experienced and governed, through attention to the voices and perspectives of those deemed vulnerable. Bringing together key themes from a number of empirical studies, the essay provides an overview of theoretical approach on vulnerability, associated research methods including co-production with 'vulnerable' people, then draws together insights from the studies and implications for future directions in vulnerability studies. In focussing on lived experiences of those who are socially disadvantaged, disproportionately victimised and at the same time deemed a social problem and controlled in ways that intensify suffering, the essay sets out how social control and marginalisation might usefully be held more to the fore in vulnerability conceptualisations to offer firmer foundations for supporting social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Domestic heating transitions must balance environmental and social policy goals, which leads to conflicts between cost, pace, and cleanliness. It is a challenge for urban policies in Central European cities, where outdated social housing stock meets increasing people's aspirations on improving air quality and climate change mitigation goals. Utilizing insights from the case study of Warsaw, this research evaluates the patterns of domestic coal phase-out in social housing, combining in-depth analysis of unique heating transition data with official census records and qualitative analysis. The investigation uncovers reprivatization, revitalization, and rationalization as three avenues through which heating transitions may inadvertently contribute to gentrification and displacements. These findings underscore the dual role of heating transitions in social housing, acting as a mitigation strategy or a catalyst for socio-spatial segregation, reproducing the ideologies of the dominant urban policy paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The online channel has affected many facets of an individual's identity, commercial, social policy, and culture, among others. It implies that discovering the topics on which these brief writings are focused, as well as examining the qualities of these short texts is critical. Another key issue that has been identified is the evaluation of newly discovered topics in terms of topic quality, which includes topic separation and coherence. A topic modeling method has been shown to be an outstanding aid in the linguistic interpretation of quite tiny texts. Based on the underlying strategy, topic models are divided into two categories: probabilistic methods and non-probabilistic methods. In this research, short texts are analyzed using topic models, including latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) for probabilistic topic modeling and non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) for non-probabilistic topic modeling. A novel approach for topic evaluation is used, such as clustering methods and silhouette analysis on both models, to investigate performance in terms of quality. The experiment results indicate that the proposed evaluation method outperforms on both LDA and NMF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paradigms of development around the globe involves mechanisms associated with its social purpose, which is more often than not dubious in nature! Natural resources form the fundamental aspect of any developmental activity. But in the process of accumulating these resources, the beneficiaries often rely on malignant mechanisms. The capitalist discourse has always been successful in manifesting their agendas of development as constructive and profitable for the entire humanity. Periodically, when the utility of development is foregrounded by dominant cultural forms, often the ramifications of progress remain uncritiqued. The developmental projects earmarked for the rural population remain unnoticed, for it serves the interest of the elite and the urban middle class. Many a time, the indigenous population, who inhabit the resource rich area are swayed away by the false propaganda for development, ultimately aggravating their existing deprivation. In the case of India, too, amidst all the development activities, the marginalized populace or the so-called Adivasis are the worst sufferers, because they have been encountering displacement for ages. The current study attempts to unveil the displacement of the tribal population (Adivasi) of India due to development projects, thereby offering a critical analysis of the social policies. The study employs select translated literary narratives to examine the development-induced dispossession of tribal population in the colonial, postcolonial and neo-liberal phase of Indian history, adopting the theoretical framework of new historicism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global digital platforms have become important actors for economy and work with social policy consequences. This article analyses strategies and actions of global digital platforms from the perspective of how and what kind of global social policy these represent. It draws from analysis of how platform company strategic approaches relate to rights, regulation, and redistribution, and then using abductive reasoning and mixed methods empirical case study in Europe, articulate challenges to future global social policy. It examines what priorities of platform companies imply to global social policy and identifies five political and strategic elements of importance for global social policy: (1) denial or avoidance of employer status, (2) identifying as a "tech company providing services", (3) focus on private social insurance in contrast to statutory social security, (4) addressing social security as a market-based service through voluntary partnerships, and (5) investor driven business model and global engagement. Drawing from theoretical and empirical data, the article further examines potential countermeasures and solutions, which could be of relevance at different levels of governance. It concludes that social policy impacts of platform economy are more related to the business model than technology. Platform economy business models currently support upward redistribution and avoidance of regulatory measures to address minimum income, social protection, and workers' rights, yet platform economy is data rich and also could provide scope for government and regulatory action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Life cycle assessment (LCA) has established itself as part of the sustainability toolkit of the private sector, informing environmental decision-making and improving environmental performance. However, we know less about its use in the public sector. To what extent and how do governments refer to LCA in their public policies? We review the literature on the use of LCA in public policy and gauge how LCA has penetrated public policymaking through its incorporation in different policy instruments across various sectors. We then discuss the politics of LCA use in policymaking. Methods: We review the literature on LCA from a public policy and social science perspective (1) and back our argument with information from a dozen interviews with LCA experts from government, consultancy, and academia in France, Germany, Switzerland, and the EU (2). Results: We show that, along with the growing importance of target setting and science-based environmental and climate policymaking, LCA has penetrated the realm of public policy in OECD countries in different policy sectors. Our understanding of the politics of LCA use in policymaking is however deficient, which leads us to outline a research agenda. Conclusions: With the growing importance of LCA in public policy, societal values, public/private governance, state capacity, and political agency should be addressed in further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In recent decades, Europe has seen a steady increase in psychiatric diagnoses, which, besides affecting the population in many ways, also challenges the organization of welfare. This paper explores how welfare classification processes impact the contemporary production of mental (ill) health and social inequality in the German welfare state. Methods: Based on comprehensive ethnographic research in the public mental healthcare landscape in Berlin between 2011 and 2017, this paper discusses in detail the case of a mandatory prescription of a psychosocial rehabilitation measure for Ms Reisch, a psychiatric service user and ethnographic research partner. The analysis draws on the methodological approach of praxeography to examine how this case challenges the social determinants of mental health framework and the conceptual work of the sociology of inequality on which the categories of welfare are largely built. Results: The paper highlights the essentializing properties of social categories, whether in the sociology of inequality or in social and mental health policy. It also demonstrates the strength of praxeography to expose how multiple welfare categorization processes shape experiences and events of dis/ability in practice, potentially contradicting the stated intentions of social policy. Conclusion: The results suggest that the attachment of categories to people in public welfare needs to be changed to make public administration more flexible to responding to the situated processes that bring about differentiations of equal and unequal in practice. The paper, therefore, encourages social inquiry into the potentialities of a post-categorical social policy framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the Estonian active labor market reform in 2016, which introduced a new policy concerning vocational rehabilitation services. As a research question, we investigate how such services may have affected the employment outcomes of people with mental and/or physical impairments. Methods: Our sample includes 9244 people from 2016 to 2020, with a mean age of 46 years. Due to multiple entries to the services, we have more than 11,000 cases with over 100,000 monthly observations. We use propensity score matching in combination with fixed effects panel regressions to analyze how the completion of the scheduled rehabilitation plan affected monthly employment duration. Results: Our findings indicate that completing the rehabilitation service results on average in 2.6 months longer post-rehabilitation employment, compared to matched individuals who discontinued the service. This effect was larger when already employed and male participants entered the service, while weaker effects were observed in the case of individuals with only mental disabilities. Conclusions: Overall, we conclude that while completing the scheduled rehabilitation plan has a positive effect on employment outcomes, still maintaining employment status seems to remain a challenge, based on the relatively modest effect sizes. Thus, we question the economic arguments behind the reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International migration of young family members is rapidly increasing, and with severe consequences on the health and well-being of left-behind older adults. The migration of young ones to abroad occasions emotional distress, illness, and high mortality rates of left-behind older adults. This study sought to ascertain the challenges of left-behind older family members of international migrants in south-east Nigeria. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data from 58 left-behind older adults. The data were analysed thematically, and the findings revealed that these older adults experience behavioural, instrumental, and social challenges due to the migration of their children. To ensure that African Union and 2030 global agenda's commitment to "leave no one behind" is achieved, the study recommends the establishment of community-based services that address the care for Nigeria's older adults. Also, the newly approved ageing policy should be given political attention to ensure that the experience of challenges by these individuals are ameliorated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of social efficiency involves the assessment of management actions in terms of the social wellbeing of the region. An index is proposed for assessing the social efficiency of management decisions at the regional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass incarceration has shaped the environment of HIV transmission, yet there is limited research on the conditions that enhance or mitigate access to health and social resources for people living with HIV (PLWH) with criminal justice (CJ) involvement. This paper aims to explore structural vulnerability, social safety net services, and criminal justice involvement among PLWH. Among a community-based sample of 336 PLWH in Baltimore, Maryland, we compared measures of structural vulnerability and access to safety net services on the outcome of either recent involvement or no involvement in the CJ system. CJ involved PLWH were more likely to be structurally vulnerable and more likely to be enrolled in temporary social services and apply for permanent income. Enrollment in longer-term social services did not differ by CJ involvement, and neither did application for housing assistance. The results shed light on the socio-economic context of CJ involvement among PLWH. As the HIV epidemic persists, focusing research on the impediments to structural wellbeing, such as the drivers of criminal justice involvement, are important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence maximization problem that has caused great attention in social network analysis aims at selecting a small set of influential spreaders so that the information cascade triggered by the seed set is maximized. The majority of the existing works mainly focus on developing single-stage seeding strategies that would ignite all the seeds before the influence spread. However, it cannot depict the scenarios of the practical, where ones would like to make further decisions based on observed activation. In this paper, we investigate the policies for the intractable sequential influence maximization problem. A Q-learning-driven discrete differential evolution algorithm based on the reinforcement Q-learning model, which is treated as a parameter controller to adaptively adjust the parameters during the evolution of the algorithm, is proposed. The policy distributes the seeding actions over the spreading process by estimating the latest node status of the network dynamically. Extensive simulations are conducted on six social networks of the practical, and the findings demonstrate the superiority and effectiveness of the hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm compared with the state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

California is currently grappling with a severe homeless crisis, with Los Angeles and particularly Skid Row, harboring the largest homeless population in the nation. The escalating prevalence of homelessness necessitates evidence-based practices for effective intervention. Despite extensive research on homeless services, the issue's complexity leaves us without a definitive solution for addressing the diverse needs of homeless individuals. The spectrum of approaches, ranging from stringent criminalization to supportive services, poses a challenge for agencies dedicated to serving this population, requiring them to navigate conflicting ideologies. This study delves into the impact of collaborations between opposing service providers on homeless services, drawing insights from interviews with homeless service workers in Skid Row, Los Angeles. Situated within the institutional logics framework, the research theoretically explores how institutions with conflicting ideologies can collaborate. Furthermore, the study introduces the concept of adjacent logics as a novel way to understand collaboration amidst conflicting ideologies. This study contributes to our understanding of homeless services and provides a nuanced framework for comprehending collaboration in the face of conflicting ideologies. This study addresses a critical gap in our knowledge, offering insights that can inform scholars and practitioners on collaborative strategies and reforms to benefit individuals experiencing homelessness and similar interacting populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late nineteenth century, state actions have aimed at alleviating poverty and inequality involved in the development of capitalism. For the particular case of Argentina, we have highlighted in other works some attributes of the state's interventions on vulnerable populations over the last decades. These attributes include their mass character, that is, the large number of programs and subjects receiving them (De Sena, 2011); their lifetime coverage, where at each stage of life (from pregnancy to old age) there is a subsidy for the poor subject; and reciprocity, that is to say, receiving aid in the form of a lifetime subsidy in response to conditions of poverty always has a conditionality, a "task" or "activity" that the person who receives it must carry out. This article outlines the narratives that the recipients themselves of social policies produce and that imply their practices of feeling regarding hope. Sixty-four interviews were conducted in the districts of La Matanza and the City of Buenos Aires between 2014 and 2019; the interviews include their stories and their hopes regarding the future of their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Universal health coverage means that all people can access essential health services without incurring financial hardship. Even in countries with good service coverage and financial protection, the progress towards universal health coverage may decelerate or be limited with respect to the growing older population. This study investigates the incidence/prevalence, determinants, and consequences of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) and unmet need for healthcare and assesses the potential heterogeneity between younger (≤ 64 years) and older people (65 years≤). Methods: Utilising an annual nationally representative survey of Japanese aged 20 years and over, we estimated the incidence of CHE and unmet need for healthcare using disaggregated estimates by household members' age (i.e. ≤64 years vs. 65 years≤) between 2004 and 2020. Using a fixed-effects model, we assessed the determinants of CHE and unmet need along with the consequences of CHE. We also assessed the heterogeneity by age. Results: Households with older members were more likely to have their healthcare needs met but experienced CHE more so than households without older members. The financial consequences of CHE were heterogeneous by age, suggesting that households with older members responded to CHE by reducing food and social expenditures more so than households without older members reducing expenditure on education. Households without older members experienced an income decline in the year following the occurrence of CHE, while this was not found among households with older members. A U-shaped relationship was observed between age and the probability of experiencing unmet healthcare need. Conclusions: Households with older members are more likely to experience CHE with different financial consequences compared to those with younger members. Unmet need for healthcare is more common among younger and older members than among their middle-aged counterparts. Different types and levels of health and financial support need to be incorporated into national health systems and social protection policies to meet the unique needs of individuals and households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "The Politics of Germany's eco-social transformation." The authors' affiliations were incorrectly listed in the original article. The correct affiliations are provided in the correction notice. The original article has been corrected. The publisher, Springer Nature, remains neutral regarding jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. The authors of the article are Jasper Finkeldey, Torben Fischer, Hendrik Theine, and Katharina Bohnenberger. [Extracted from the article]