Social Policy in Low Income Countries

An understanding of social policy in any part of the world can most successfully be achieved through analyses that incorporate historical, political, economic and social dimensions. This is particularly the case when attempting to understand social policy in lower-income countries, where the experiences of colonialism, independence and nation-building, the degree of influence exerted by international financial institutions, and the extent and nature of poverty and inequality have had a major impact on shaping social policy debates and systems of welfare.



There has often been a lack of a clear identity for social policy in lower income countries and a much greater emphasis on the broader notion of social development. Since the 1950s the main tenet of development thinking has been premised, either explicitly or implicitly, on the role of modernisation as a vehicle for facilitating economic growth through urbanisation, industrialisation, and capital investment. The phrase itself, and the perceived strategies for achieving it, have implied the desirability of implementing a unilinear and universal development trajectory replicating and perpetuating the structures and systems dominant in Western industrial countries to the developing world. The development discourse has, until recently, tended to subordinate or subsume social policy within economic policy and focused on homogeneity across developing societies, rather than diversity. The first section of this chapter will consider patterns of welfare across developing societies. The role of international institutions and overseas development aid (ODA) in relation to the shaping of social policy instruments and the growing interest in and expansion of social protection programmes will then be considered. The discussion concludes with a consideration of future challenges for low-income countries and the role of social policy in promoting and supports sustainable development and human security.