Social security nets Flashcards
- Power in the making of social policy.
- Policy-making occurs through constellation of power.
- MGNREA arose from interactions between actors, coalitions and networks
- Power sited at parliamentary, executive, political party and civil society
- Indian elections instituted a left-leaning coalition who negotiated a commitment to enact a national employment guarantee acts
- Activists transcended state boundaries by negotiating changes within the bill but also in the streets pressurising the state to fulfil commitment
Chopra (2011)
Cite for MGNREGA overviews.
Women and MGNREGA.
* High levels of female participation in MGNREGA - but this is not the same as empowerment
* Empowerment is not just economic, it’s also social and political, relational and lived
* Women were not involved in the decision-making process
* E.g. one group lobbied for childcare at working sites, another group lobbied for at least a third of the days offered to be reserved for women. The first one was more linked to lived experience (since women have disproportionate care work), but the second group won out since they were more high-profile
* But, we should not dismiss that increasing employment participation is a big help for amny women since it reduces economic dependency in a context where access to family resources is limited
Chopra (2019)
Positive overview of MGNREGA’s impact on women.
Rajan (2020)
Rebut with Chopra (2019)
MGNREGA works and their impacts.
* MGNREGA works focus on strenghtening natural resource management and addressing drought, deforestation and soil erosion (green economy link)
* Works were found to support marginal farmers
* 90% of respondents found works very useful
* Most maintained in a good condition
Ranaware (2015)
Theorising legal action.
* One of many strategies used to realise social change
* It’s not about choosing between litigation or not, but finding a balance between different methods depending on legal and political context
* Legal underpinnings do not automatically enable the poor to obtain rights
* But have important indirect effects for pro-poor activist organizations including mobilizing membership;
* Protecting activists from arbitrary action;
* And shifting public discourse.
Joshi (2010)
An overview of recent SSI in India, including MGNREGA.
* Over time, Indian govt has come to expand social and economic rights largely through ‘rights-based’ approach (legal entitlements that can be taken to courts)
* Pros: power given to underprivileged who can defend rights in court, clear state responsibilities and stability infleunces public perceptions and social norms
* Cons: cannot be enforced through a dysfunctional legal system - rigid policy cannot be corrected
* Debate on targeting vs universaliation
* One possible way could be an exclusion approach
Details on MGNREGA:
* Official data states that the programme generated more than 2b person-days of work annually (2008-14)
* Revived democratic institutions e.g. village councils and assemblies
* Empowered women and rural workers
* Limited by severe resource, supply-side constraints
* And persistent mentality of a hierarchical society where privileged groups do not think they have responsibility towards other
Each approach is context dependent.
Dreze & Kehra (2017)
Link to Joshi (2010)
Right to work is founded in Keynesian ideals of strong state presence, full employment and a flexible labour market
Dreze (2005)
A more nuanced analysis of the rural proletariat’s response to MGNREGA.
* Program has reconfigured pre-existing social norms and hierarchies in rural India
* Rather than a direct challenge to local land-owners or a ‘class war,’ rural farmers are practicing everyday politics
* The scheme pays higher wages than the market so marginal farmers no longer need to engage in subordinated relations with local elites
Roy (2014)
Looking at ‘the politics of the poor’ to explain social welfare expansion in India (from 0.3% of GDP to 0.9%, 2004-10)
* MGNREGA began in 2005 and guarantees employment to any rural resident on public works programs for 100 days a year within 5km of their residence
* If not, an unemployment benefit can be claimed
* Other major programmes: school meals, social security pensions, and a public disctribution system
* These have mostly occurred in a rights framework
* Appeals to the politics of the poor made to justify legislation of MGNREA since poor people’s eletoral paritcipation witnessed a steep increase during the 1990s
‘Politics of the poor’ refers to an ensemble of negotiations encompassing both electoral particpiation and contentious politics
Roy (2023)
A view from the South and a critique of the precariat.
Overview of the origins of marginality and informality - alternative terms which precede the precariat, that must be situated in a wider genealogy.
Precarity has always been the norm in the GS
Munck (2013)
Picks apart 3 features of Standing’s (2014) precariat to show they have always been present in the GS.
* Detachment from labour: throughout history, GS has been characterised by mixed livelihood strategies
* Relations of distribution: there is no clear fragmentation of social benefits. Most workers move in and out of social security entitlements throughout their lives
* State: during colonialism, most people did not have formal citizenship and post-colonial states continued repression
* Also ignores that meaningful gains have been achieved in Southern politics
Scully (2016)
Case study
Argentina’s Universal Child Allowance
* State failed to identify informal workers
* BI policy aims to distribute a stable/unconditional income to all people independently of their status
* It seeks to both resolve the challenges of job allocation and income distribution - and ends up replicating pre-existing inequalities since system is different in the GS
* Cash transfers do not integrate the complexity of socio-economic context e.g. clientelism
* Discretionary social welfare expansion would be better
Vuolo (2013)
Evaluates impact of Bolsa Familia from a comparative perspective.
Soares et al (2010)
Overview of Bolsa Familia, implemented in 2003.
Not embedded as a right - so it is more flexible than MGNREGA, but has also come under fire for being used as a political tool.
Soares (2011)
Pinto et al (2023) - politics influencing BF delivery
Impact of Bolsa Familia on women’s decision-making power.
de Brauw et al (2014)
