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Tutorial Response Essay Week 6 Referring to Christopher Pierson discussion of Offe’s work, explain the three â€Å"management crises† of the KWS. Offe (1984) points out that the present Keynesian Welfare System is a form of crisis management however within the system are three management crises; the issue of sustaining the funding for the upkeep of the welfare system, then   the issue of administrative willpower; were it battles between providing humane welfare programs and the issue of accountability. Lastly the issue of popular distrust of the states proclivity to help groups who it wants too rather than helping all citizens in need. 2. Marginson discusses ‘market liberals’ (New Right) views on the failures of the KWS and their proposals for addressing them. Explain their views. The market liberals said that KWS failed because the government had too much control over the economy of the country. They felt that too much spending of the government had distorted the market forces of the economy. The full employment logic is damaging to the market since it distorts the truth about unemployment rates but is harmful to the economic market. They have recommended that the government remove all of its regulation laws limiting the business sector. 3. According to Paul Pierson, why has it been difficult for the New Right in the 1970-80s to achieve their retrenchment goals? Although neo-liberals were gaining ground in that period, the retrenchment goals were not fully achieved because although the costs for keeping the welfare system running was too high, it was not possible for the government to reform its welfare programs as it was met with widespread disapproval. Voters were found to be averse of pay cuts and welfare marginalizing than they were of possible equivalent gains if reforms of welfare program was carried out. Week 7 According to Mishra, ‘globalisation is an economic phenomenon driven by politics and ideology’ (p.1). Explain his meaning. Globalisation is an economic force that is brought about by neo-liberal politics and ideology. This means that the neo-liberals have supported free market liberalization and driven by the ideology of minimum government control over the economy of the nation states; the liberal thinkers envisioned a global market. Globalisation extended the capitalism of major countries and city states to the international market where it is less controlled by any national government. 2. According to Kennet, what are the main defining features of the post-KWS economy? The main defining features of post-KWS economy are the decline in manufacturing and assembly lines, increases in service employment, the concentration of economic control by multinational firms and financial institutions, substantial change in the patterns of state interventions and reorientation of the welfare state, the cutting of pay-outs and stricter welfare qualifications. As well as the obsolescence of full employment and the dismissal of Keynesian policies on the economic market. 3. What does she mean by the ‘hollowing out’ of the nation state in relation to economic globalisation? Hollowing out means that due to economic globalisation the nation state have become less of a major player, it implies that the authority of the nation state to govern economic forces have become lesser in contrast to major cities that have taken on world city functions and become centers of economic, social and cultural developments. Moreover, the nation state’s important economic functions and political power to trade and negotiate in the international arena have been lessened or eased out. 4. According to Brietenfeller, what are some of the arguments in favour of economic globalisation? Economic globalisation has led to the increase of prosperity in much of the world, the exchange of goods and services and international capital have encouraged the growth of the business sector, thereby contributing to the growth of the economy in certain countries. With globalisation is also the widespread exchange of technology that has made it possible for countries to trade and market their services and goods unencumbered by state regulations. What problems doe he see arising from it? The greatest problem with economic globalisation is that it encourages stiff competition among a number of countries in terms of labour and capital, thus a country that offers less costs for labour to multinational companies would naturally get the contract, and if multinational companies do not agree with state regulations they can always take their plants to cheaper countries. The end result is that globalisation results in job losses and income inequality. Week8 Downes is a conservative liberal writing in the 1970s. What does he mean by ‘separating the planning and procurement of public services from their production and delivery’? Downes argued that the government should take the role of separating the planning and procurement of public services from their production and delivery. This means that he believes that the government could work more efficiently if it narrows its focus and concentrate on planning and procuring of public services which it does best and then assign the production and delivery of public services to private entities who can do it better and would be more cost efficient to the state. 2. What does Brennan mean by ‘separating steering from rowing’? By steering, Brennan means making policy decisions while rowing is the direct-service delivery of public services. When he says separating steering from rowing, he means that the government should do the steering because it is better and more effective in doing so. The division of these functions would enable the government to concentrate on what they are better at, looking for and raising revenues and planning for social programs that the citizens would benefit from. 3. McGuire discusses contracting out of public services and service delivery contracts for the public sector. To what kinds of developments is she referring? McGuire asserts that contracting out of public services and service delivery contracts for the public sector will answer the need of the government to transition from post Keynesian systems to neoliberalism. She says that contracting will result to competition that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery it also defines what services to be delivered and it facilitates the blurring of traditional boundaries between public and private sectors. In what ways can these developments be understood as ‘steering not rowing’ by the state? Neoliberalism calls for the abolishment of government control over the economy, they believe that true economic prosperity depended on a true and free market. By contracting out public services, the government is basically concerned with policy decisions making – steering such as what services should be contracted out, what performance goals to measure etc, while the same act is rowing because the government awards contracts to private groups to deliver public services. How does Harvey characterise neoliberalism? Harvey defines neoliberalism as a political and economic theory that posits that individuals can only attain progress if the state grants its individual citizens the right to entrepreneurial freedom wherein the state must create laws that protect property rights, establish free markets and free trade. Aside from which, neoliberalism does not approve of state intervention and governance over the business sector as well as the encouraging of welfare dependency.   Week 9 According to Ransome, what distinguishes post-Fordism from Fordism? Post-Fordism is characterized by the belief in the sovereign consumer which has the power to dictate the market forces, what the market provides is based on what the consumer wants and needs. It is also seen as the emergence of personalized life-styles and the withdrawal of individuals into their private worlds. On the capitalist side, owners and means of production begun to implement organizational changes to accommodate the changing consumer profile. According to Ransome, what is the link between the flexible firm, flexible production, and the core-periphery structure of the labour force? Flexible firms are capitalist enterprises that are structured to accommodate organizational changes and production methods around the model of flexible specialization, wherein it can change the size of the workforce, redeployed to different tasks to meet the changes of consumer demands which are accommodated by the retaining of highly skilled workers (core) and transiently employed workers (periphery). Flexible production is the availability of new production methods and the ability to produce specialized goods by flexible firms. 3. According to Walters, what is the significance of neo-liberal notions of the `active society` to labour market policy? The active society seeks to make all individuals workers. It is thought of as a solution to the problem of the welfare state. In the welfare state, those who are on welfare are called inactive and contribute to the shortage of labour. If all individuals capable of getting paid work will be available in the market labour then there will be less need for state policies to protect or serve workers. Active individuals would lead to faster economic opportunity and combat poverty. What concerns does Combet raise in relation to the current Federal Governments ‘workplace agenda’? Combet argues that the workplace agenda is a radical plan that will strip every Australian worker the right to join unions and to collectively bargain with management to improve worker welfare. Then it also removes any protection from unfair dismissal without any right to representation. The plan also proposes to abolish the no disadvantage test and replace it with streamlined conditions that is a disadvantage for every worker. According to Leonard, what is the difference between Fordism and Post-Fordism? Leonard says that Fordism is a period where technological innovation was minimal, organizations were bureaucratic in structure, and workers joined mass unions and wage bargaining was centralized and welfare was standardized for all; as such it was a period wherein everyone thought and was treated alike. Post-Fordism on the other hand is a direct opposite of Fordism although it leaned more to the development of individual choices, specialization and independent thinking. Week 10 1. According to Williams, what is the main features neo-liberal of public sector reform? Neoliberals argue that government spending on welfare programs is too excessive and hence should be regulated. Any reform to the public sector should include cutting public spending and taxes, government should sell its business enterprises to private corporations, contracting out the delivery of services, creating markets out of monopolistic public or private industries and deregulating industries.   This would enable the government to focus more on what it should essentially do. 2. Williams refers to the ‘responsibilisation of individuals as market players’(p.250). What does he mean and why does he consider it a problem? Responsibilisation of individuals as market players to Williams mean that citizens of the state now become individualistic in their pursuit of needs and interests in a state that is structured as a marketplace. The problem with this is it encourages the rich to resort to arrangements beneficial to themselves and to disregard any obligation for the collective good. The poor however have no choice and have to contend to what is available to them. 3. According to Mendes, what are the five main concerns neoliberals hold regarding the welfare state? The main concerns of neoliberals regarding the welfare state is that the welfare state is captured by interest groups for their own purpose, it also deregulates the labour market since it preserves minimum wages and deny disadvantaged workers access to jobs. It also encourages welfare dependency, it also does not make any distinction between the undeserving and deserving poor and it reduced private individual’s ability to contribute to charities of their own choice. Rodger suggests there is a ‘new moral economy of welfare’. What does he mean by this? According to Rodger, the new moral economy of welfare means that individuals rather than society will carry the primary obligation to meet their own welfare needs in the future. He acknowledges that there is a relationship between the complex institutional provisions of health and welfare in contemporary society and the nature of social consciousness. The moral fabric of welfare will then be concentrated on preparing individuals to provide themselves with a comfortable future.   Week 11 Moss argues that the Mutual Obligation Scheme is morally flawed because ‘the unemployed have little choice about their contract’ and ‘there is insufficiently mutuality shown towards the unemployed’, and that the Scheme is accordingly ‘essentially punitive’. 1. According to Moss, what is the Mutual Obligation Scheme and what is new about it? The Mutual Obligation Scheme is based on the premise that those who depend on the community for long periods should give something back to the community that supports them. It is also made up of the Work for the Dole 2000 which refers to the obligations of the unemployed in terms of what they can give back in exchange of the help they were receiving like providing services to the local community. 2. What is the moral basis of Moss’s argument? Moss argues that receiving welfare and being obligated to give something in exchange for it is not morally binding. Those on welfare are there because they cannot find work through no fault of their own. Welfare is supposed to be a service that the state owes it citizens and should not be dealt with as a business and hence it is not obligation binding. The title of Mendes’s article is the phrase: ‘Blaming the Victim: the new assault on welfare state’. 3. What does this phrase mean? The phrase means that the reforms on the welfare state were designed to abolish the services that assist the less fortunate and able because it punishes the victims of poverty and disadvantaged for their own fate and to deprive them of the right to assistance. The welfare state existed because of poor people who are lazy and are blamed for the excessive spending of the state which should have been channeled to more necessary services. What evidence does Mendes provide? Mendes have cited a number of evidences that have led him to believe that the poor is blamed for the welfare state. There is the published critique of the welfare state by the New Right; there is the dob in a dole bludger campaign which in essence denigrates the poor with its reference to dole. Those who are unemployed are also forced to keep a dole diary and a review of the Young Homeless Allowance.   Week 12 Llewellen states that the Third World has been created – it is ‘in no way primal or natural’. What is the basis of his argument? Llewellwn states that the Third World is not a natural occurrence; it is a label developed by the First World to designate underdeveloped countries as such. But this designation is a function more of its place in relation to the First world rather than a natural occurrence. Third world countries are underdeveloped because they do not have the same technological advancements as the First world. Third Worldism evolved out of the military, political and economic expansion of the First worlds. 2. Hoogvelt argues that economic globalisation is another phase of the imperialist exploitation of the Third World by the ‘advanced’ world (western/industrialised nations). Explain the basis of her argument. Hoogvelt says that economic globalisation had allowed the advanced world to manipulate the economy of third worlds by imposing on them measures that are beneficial to the first world, the labour divisions that limited the Third world into providing the raw materials, producing and exporting unprocessed commodities to the first world, the profits that the first world gets out from technological rents and the global expansion of capitalists to third worlds are all imperialistic in nature. 3. Amin argues that most discourses of contemporary (economic) globalisation present this phenomenon as a kind of `natural law, thus marginalising any understanding of the social, political and economic factors which bring it into being’. Briefly outline the major points of Amin`s argument. Globalisation accordingly has been perceived as a natural law thereby it has taken off as a natural occurrence. It is a phenomenon that has been brought about by the interdependence of contemporary societies that allowed the deploying of economic dimensions on a world scale. It is founded on historical social compromises between nations and defined within the framework of political states, those who have greater power and resources control the global market. Brietenfeller argues in favour of ‘global unionism’. What difficulties stand in the way of workers ‘solidarity’ between North (west/industrialised) and South (Third World/developing) unions? Global unionism has been sought by many as an answer to the inequality of the conditions and wages of workers all over the world. But there has been strong opposition against the international worker organizations because states fear that it would lead to trade union imperialism, hence policies and reforms to recognize them have been ignored by the state. Factional differences within the group also exist and limit their collective representation in the world trade. Week 13 1. Referring to Esping-Anderson (2002) and Perkins, Nelms and Smyth (2005): Explain ‘social investment’ in your own words. Social investment is a concept that encompasses the states responsibility to invest in its human resources. It is seen that in order for the state to gain economic progress it has to design and give services that would benefit its human capital. It means that the government provide for the education, training and protection of its citizens that would prepare them to participate in the labour market. Social investment would also necessitate the drawing up of social policies that would prioritize government spending on programs and services that will generate the best outcome for the economy and society; like making sure that roads and facilities that would enable the exchange of goods and trades are well kept and in excellent condition. 2. Esping-Anderson suggests that ‘social justice’ should be an important facet of ‘social investment’. What is the proposed moral basis of ‘social investment’ to which Esping-Anderson refers? Social justice is the moral basis of social investment; it means that any action directed towards developing the state’s human capital should conform to the normative definition of justice of the culture. Hence providing opportunities for education and training to enable its citizen to participate in the labour market should be founded on equal opportunities, wherein anything that is beneficial to some should be beneficial to all. The state should also develop life skills for all kinds of people, basic social services should be rooted on the principle of equality and justice. However, priority should be given to those who are the weakest in the state and their welfare would be safeguarded. Social justice also dictates the rules for making choices and selecting priorities on what form of social investment should be given like a the need for having a healthy and educated workforce would take precedence over the need for developing cultural awareness. References Pearson, C. 1998. Beyond the Welfare State, 2nd, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 56-81 Marginson, S. 1997. Educating Australia. Government, Economy and Citizen since 1960, Oakleigh, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 73-81 Pierson, P. 1996. Dismantling the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher, and the Politics of Retrenchment, Cambridge University Press: Melbourne. Pp. 1-9 Mishra, R. 1999. Globalisation and the Welfare State, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Pp. 1-16 Kennett, P. 2001. Comparative Social Policy, Buckingham: Open University Press. Pp. 26-29. Brietenfeller, A. 1997. ‘Global Unionism: A potential player’. International Labour Review, Winter 136:4. Pp. 533-37 Downes, A. 1998. ‘Separating the planning and procurement of public services from their production and delivery’, in Anthony Downes ed. Political Theory and Public Choice, Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar. [first published 1976]. [4 pages] Brennan, D. 1998. ‘Government and civil society’, in P. Smyth and B. Cass eds. Contesting the Australian Way, Oakleigh, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 127-137 McGuire, L. 1997. ‘Service delivery contracts; quality for clients, customers and citizens,’ in G. Davis, B. Sullivan and A. Yeatman eds. The New Contractualism, Centre for Public Centre   Management, Griffith University, Queensland. Pp. 102-118. Harvey, D. 2005. A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Pp. 1-3, 64-67. Ransome, P. 1999. Sociology and the Future of Work. Contemporary Discourses and Debates, Sydney: Ashgate. Pp. 66-74. Leonard, P. 1997. Postmodern Welfare, London. Sage. Pp. 119-127 Walters, W. 1997. ‘The â€Å"active society†: new designs for social policy’, Policy and Politics, 25(3): 221-34. Pp. 224-31. Combet, G. 2005. ‘Whose Choices? Analysis of the Current Industrial Relations â€Å"Reforms†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. Journal of Australian Political Economy, 56:243-253. Pp. 243-253. Williams, C. 1996. ‘Reinventing’ the welfare state: neo-liberalism and beyond’, in A. McMahon, J. Thomson, and C. Williams eds. Understanding the Australian Welfare State: Key Documents and Themes, Croydon, Victoria: Macmillan. Pp. 248-261. Mendes, P. 2000. Australia’s Welfare Wars: the Players, the Politics and the Ideologies, UNSW Press. Pp. 37-49. Rodger, J. 2000. From a Welfare State to a Welfare Society, London: Macmillan. Pp. 3-10. Moss, J. 2001. ‘The ethics and politics of mutual obligation’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 36(1): 1-14. Pp. 1-14. Mendes, P. 2001. ‘Blaming the messenger: The media, social workers and child abuse’, Australian Social Work. 54(2):27-36. Pp. 27-36. Mendes, P. 1997. ‘Blaming the victim: the new assault on the welfare state’, Journal of Economic Social Policy, 2(1):41-53. Pp.41-53. Gardner, F. 2006. ‘Current Issues and Prospects’, Chapter One in Working with Human Services Organisations, South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Pp. 3-13. Lewellen, T.C. 1995. Dependency and Development. An Introduction to the Third World, London: Bergin and Garvey. Pp. 19-25. Hoogvelt, A. 2001. Globalisation and the Postcolonial World. The New Political Economy of Development, 2nd, Hampshire UK: Palgrave. Pp. 29-34, 43-47. Amin, S. 1999. ‘Capitalism, imperialism, globalisation’, in R. M. Chilcoate ed. The Political Economy of Imperialism: Critical Appraisals, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Pp. 157-67. Brietenfeller, A. 1997. ‘Global unionism: A potential player’. International Labour Review, 136(4):531-555. 543-44, Pp. 549-51. Esping-Anderson, Gosta 2002. Why we Need a New Welfare State. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Perkins, Daniel, Lucy Nelms and Paul Smyth. 2005. ‘Beyond neo-liberalism: the social investment state?’ Just Policy, 38:35-40.