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Although policy‐makers and scholars have directed increasing attention towards collaborative innovation and knowledge development between frontline agencies and workers and other stakeholders such as citizens and researchers, empirical research has not focused on the (varying) assessment of collaborators regarding what knowledge is "appropriate" to develop. In this article, we examine such knowledge assessments by drawing on a comparative case study of two local innovation projects conducted by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) in a four‐year service innovation programme. Although they responded to the same call, the projects involved development of two very distinct types of knowledge; one dealt with practice‐based knowledge and the other with evidence‐based knowledge. We show that whereas the former knowledge type was contested and difficult to transform into practice, the latter prompted few (if any) challenges and was implemented on a relatively large scale. These two projects point to the possible existence of a hierarchy of knowledge in labour and welfare services, where evidence‐based forms of knowledge and methods are regarded as more legitimate and appropriate than forms of knowledge placed "lower" in the hierarchy. We discuss the reasons for and implications of this apparent hierarchy of knowledge for frontline labour and welfare services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Kingdom, as an exemplar liberal welfare state, has been characterized as in the vanguard of "work‐first" activation – deploying high levels of compulsion and standardized employability services that seek to move people from welfare to work as quickly as possible. However, despite the extension of welfare conditionality to excluded groups such as lone parents, government‐led, work‐first employability programmes have often proved ineffective at assisting the most vulnerable to escape poverty or even just to progress in the labour market. We argue that alternative approaches, defined by co‐production and social innovation, have the potential to be more successful. We draw on a study of local services targeting lone parents led by third sector–public sector partnerships in five localities in Scotland. Our research identifies a link between programme governance and management (defined by co‐governance and collaborative partnership‐working) and co‐produced street‐level services that deliver benefits in terms of social innovation and employability. We draw on 90 interviews with lone parents, and more than 100 interviews with delivery stakeholders and street‐level workers, to identify factors associated with positive social and employability outcomes. The article concludes by identifying potential lessons for the governance and delivery of future services targeting vulnerable groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase the chances of integrating youth into labour markets in contemporary European knowledge societies, many policy schemes are geared towards investing in youth's human capital. Since apprenticeship systems are assumed to ease school‐to‐work transitions, this seems a particularly promising avenue. However, research highlights that social policies often do not reach the most disadvantaged members of society. The aim of this article is to shed light on the reasons and mechanisms causing this phenomenon, called the Matthew effect, through a single, embedded case study of a vocational education and training programme for disadvantaged youth in Switzerland. The findings highlight cream‐skimming practices as a coping strategy enabling frontline workers to satisfy strict assessment criteria. A budgetary allocation driven politico‐administrative logic promotes such practices as a means to generate solid results, so as to safeguard political – and thus financial – support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This themed issue contributes to European research on the role of front‐line work in the implementation of welfare‐to‐work policies. A number of factors underline the relevance of such study. First, the focus on activating and disciplining the unemployed seen in many countries may on the surface look similar. However, a closer look at these policies and how they unfold in different contexts reveals many and interesting differences. While all contain a certain level of disciplining and coercive elements, they also to a varying degree contain elements that focus on the upgrading of skills, building human capital and providing other types of support in promoting labour‐market participation. In turn, these policies contain both people processing and people changing technologies that are used for different aspects of policy delivery. In addition, policy developments have gradually expanded the client group of these policies, including more hard‐to‐place unemployed, thus making the client group more heterogeneous. Finally, we have seen a strong political belief in the positive effects of using punitive sanctions. Research supports this belief when it comes to clients with high employability and limited problems besides unemployment, but the knowledge‐base is rather shaky when it comes to the hard‐to‐place clients with substantial problems. Using punitive sanctions or other disciplining or coercive measures in frontline work has caused controversy and resistance. In order to qualify our understanding of welfare‐to‐work policies, we need to take a step closer to where these policies are translated into reality for the target group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin d'Histoire Politique is the property of L'Association Quebecoise d'Histoire Politique 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.)

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) is a European Union agency based in Dublin, Ireland. As a European information service provider, Eurofound provides research results, data, information and knowledge on living and working conditions in the European Union in order to further develop employment and social policy strategies at European level. The aim is to contribute to the improvement of living and working conditions in Europe. This article provides an overview of the services, working methods and intended impact logic of this European information providing agency, as well as an overview of the similarities and differences in the working methods of other comparable EU agencies and how they contribute to and cooperate with the EU policy-relevant provision of scientific information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes two broad approaches to care and care work within a spectrum of approaches that are evident in East Asia: one that accepts care as a core public policy agenda, and tries to leverage it as a potential engine to activate the incipient care economy; and the other, that sees care as strictly private family responsibility, and hence opts to partially underwrite the familial care with a mix of tax and policy incentives through the private market – including creating channels for families to outsource care to foreign migrant care workers. The author uses elder care policies to illustrate ways in which socio-cultural ideas and institutional history shape national policies, and how these policies in turn shape ways in which care is delivered, and care work organized within the family and in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Scientific Annals of the 'Al. I. Cuza' University, Iasi. Sociology & Social Work / Analele Stiintifice ale Universitatii 'Al. I. Cuza' Iasi Sociologie si Asistenta Sociala is the property of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University 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 Revista Espiga is the property of Revista Espiga 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 Economic Development Review (2543-3490) is the property of Economic Development Review 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.)

Abstract: The introductory article of this special issue looks at the genesis, characteristics and challenges of social protection schemes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It argues that social protection policies in the MENA should be seen as a key ingredient of the social contract that governments offered to their citizens after independence. To compensate for the lack of political participation and accountability, free public health and education systems, generous food, energy and water subsidies, social insurance and assistance schemes and mass public‐sector employment were established. This was possible because MENA countries benefitted from substantial windfall profits (from the export of oil, gas and minerals; Suez Canal user fees), as well as from income from remittances from migrant workers and income from politically motivated aid. The decline of income from some of these sources and population growth has led MENA governments to focus more closely their social protection spending on strategically important social groups: typically, the urban upper middle class. As a result, social protection systems in MENA countries currently suffer from severe weaknesses in terms of social fairness, efficiency and sustainability. Although MENA countries still spend a very considerable share of gross domestic product on their social protection schemes, these have only very limited effects on the reduction of poverty, vulnerability and inequality – and some even exhibit perverse “bottom‐up” redistributive outcomes. The articles that comprise this special issue selectively spotlight a number of opportunities and challenges for the development of sustainable social protection in the MENA countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Youth unemployment is a major socio‐political issue in the Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). However, active labour market programmes (ALMPs) in support of youth employment remain less prevalent and are generally outside the purview of social policies in the region's countries. This article addresses this inconsistency. The article provides an overview of such programmes and identifies the challenges to their inclusion as a central part of the region's social policy mix. Internationally, the article notes that successful models for the integration of ALMPs into social policies have been part of long‐term reforms targeting inclusive social security systems. This has not been the case in Arab countries where access to contributory social security systems is limited and where labour markets are characterized by large informal economies and a majority of workers are without social protection. Further contributing factors pertain to limited state budgets and a limited knowledge base about the effectiveness of ALMPs in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Québec has been structuring and promoting a social economy sector since the mid-1990s. What explains this specificity of the Québec social model? Careful process tracing analysis reveals that the mobilization of Québec's left in the mid- 1990s, followed by coalition engineering during the 1996 economy and employment summit, account for Québec's distinct trajectory. Consistent with power resource theory (PRT), at the agenda-setting stage, protagonists of Québec's social economy policies were associated with the left. Contrary to what is assumed by PRT, however, at the decision stage, the right's consent to social economy policies was not conditioned by a weak bargaining position or by a fear of antagonizing voters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was drafted using the Social Competitiveness Index (SCI) compiled by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP-Mexico) to analyze progress and/or backsliding in the areas of healthcare, education, and job income in the Mexican Republic's 32 states over the time period 2005-2014. The aim was also to use panel data techniques to evaluate the relationship between the SCI and public spending, finding that public spending on social issues was negatively related to the SCI (elasticity was -0.5764%). In conjunction with that, it was demonstrated that a lack of social competitiveness existed alongside growth in public spending, leading to the conclusion that the social policy was ineffective, on top of an economic policy that only drove scant growth in production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Care policies are high on the public policy agenda in Latin America. This is partly explained by the region's structural conditions, typical of middle-income countries, such as increasing life expectancy and women's relatively high participation in the labour market, but also by the politicization of care, derived from the recognition that the unequal distribution of care provision is a powerful driver of gender and income inequalities. Women's movements have positioned care policies high on their own agendas and, with varying degrees, States have progressed in the implementation of care policies, supported by a strong gender-equality agenda which is framed within a rights-based approach to social protection. This article presents the Uruguayan and Costa Rican 'care systems' as examples of Latin America's rights-based approach to care policies. It succinctly explains their political and institutional evolution, and presents the main features of their legal frameworks. It pays particular attention to the actors that have mobilized to support and, eventually, shape them. It also identifies the dimensions that are singled out by other countries in the process of replicating and adapting these examples to build their own 'care systems' following a rights-based approach to care policies. The article closes with a focus on implementation challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key normative principle of transformative social policy is that it is rights-based. This implies that it be universal, as a right extended categorically to all persons in a defined situation, or to all citizens, or, in its most radical form, as applicable to all residents regardless of citizenship status. To be transformative, social policy also needs to tackle the root causes of inequalities and social injustices. In the recent past, approaches emerged in a number of countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia that pointed in the direction of universal, rights-based social policy. These suggest that a 'social turn' took place - a shift to ideas and policies that prioritize social issues. In the cases under review (India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Thailand), the trends towards a universal, rights-based approach to social services and social transfers were in each case politically driven and a result of changes in government - the social turns were the outcome of contestation. At present, these countries are experiencing political backlashes, with democratic processes and civil society under severe attack. This article seeks to make two points. First, a rights-based, transformative policy approach and a social turn do not come automatically: it is always the result of contestation, be it from the electorate and their interests groups, or from competition between political parties. Second, acquired rights and moves towards transformation can be dismantled. In the current global political rollback, there is a need to defend and fight for transformative and rights-based social policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the promises of the Canada Health Act is portability-the principle of equitable access to health services wherever you live. Services for young children in northern and rural communities are structured with a one-size-fits-all funding model that inadvertently disadvantages lower population density areas. We use a socio-cultural approach to explore the barriers to access to rural early childhood services. With data from two research projects that each covered diverse rural contexts, we focused on service providers' and parents' experiences in accessing early intervention and early development programs and services for children with typical development, and those with developmental delay and/or diagnosed disabilities. The results affirm the value of rural and small town life and provide information for developing a more effective rural service delivery model for families with children with typical and atypical development. We demonstrate the way providers and parents make rural services work through 'relational functionality.' Parents and service providers rely on key community agents to help organize and innovate collaborative solutions to address lack of access to information, intermodal travel demands, and administrative divides. In short, we confirm an urbanistic policy bias in the per capita funding model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of African Political Economy is the property of Review of Political Economy (ROAPE) 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 European Journal of Sociology is the property of Cambridge University Press 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.)

Human concentration, the development of technologies, threats of destruction and contamination are at the origin of an awareness of the need for civilian assistance. Urgent medical aid, which is developing and moving towards network medicine, in partnership with all the structures contributing to the emergency, is contributing to the rationalization of social policy. The actors of emergency medical aid thus contribute to safeguarding, while improving, a health and social sector, which is now one of the foundations of democracy and one of its foundations in the face of the challenges of the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Education is the property of Formation d'Educateurs Sociaux Europeens (FESET) 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.)

Recently, many social problems such as homelessness, refugees, hunger or domestic violence were qualified as emergencies in public debates. This article highlights paradoxical consequences of this labeling on the visibility of the marginalized persons and of the implementation of social workers' actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]