From Welfare States to Social Safety Nets : Globalization, Developmental Strategies, and the Transformation of Welfare Regimes in East Asia

The welfare regime in East Asia has long been characterized as a 'residual welfare state.' Yet, recent development also suggests that welfare systems in these countries have experienced significant expansion. Scholars have largely agreed that economic openness exerts significant impacts on welfare development in these countries. They have, however, failed to explain why globalization produces seemingly opposite effects. This study provides a theoretical framework to explain under what conditions globalization provides an expansionary dynamic and what might constrain that effect. I argue that the transformation of welfare regimes is the result of the changing development strategies within these countries under the new context of the global political economy. Accordingly, these countries have adapted a new understanding of social protection that emphasizes its function as social safety nets. As a result, globalizationﾒs impact is multidimensional. It discourages the reduction of inefficient welfare programs but simultaneously induces governments to expand the programs critical for market competition and continuous development. That is, globalization provides both constraints and opportunities for social policy adjustment. I further argue that political institutions are critical in ensuring the possibility and speed of such a transformation under the pressures of conflicting demands from various social groups that have been affected unevenly by globalization