On July 6 1984, the fourth Labour government were elected into parliament after defeating the National party in a snap election. 1984 can be regarded as a major turning point in New Zealand political history in the sense that significant political changes affected the whole of the New Zealand society, economy and political structure. New Zealand government’s experimented with radical Neoliberal policy programmes to achieve economic and social progress during this period. The essay shall discuss the central features of the process of policy change over the period of 1984 to 1993 in New Zealand. These reforms were among the most sweeping in scope and scale within any industrialised democracy. There are a significant number of historical and institutional similarities between Australia and New Zealand which make them a fertile ground for comparative analysis. This essay shall compare industrial relations reform in Australia and New Zealand during the 1980s and 1990s, integrating both institutionalist and interest-based approaches.
Within comparative politics there are two main approaches to the impact of economic change on national policy patterns. The first, new institutionalism has been very influential in comparative industrial relations. The second, which focuses on the role of interests, has also been significant in New Zealand and Australian politics.
The concept of institutionalism is central to the analysis of the reform episode that took place in New Zealand. Institutions are the rules of the game in a society or, more formally, are the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction (North,1990:3). Zucker defines Institutionalism as a fundamentally cognitive process (1983:25). In comparison, Immergut argues that the theoretical core of the new institutionalism is the view that there is a tendency for certain arrangements in social life to persist over institutions and for these institutional arrangements to affect not just strategic actions but also the preference formation of social actors (1998:7). Immergut stresses the fundamentals of the concept of institutionalism can be problematic as there are many conflicting definitions and analysis. “Since the common research interest is in the black box between potential political demands and ultimate outcomes, it does not make sense to predefine the contents of this box. A standard definit...
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...liams Books.
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Linda Gordon's article is thoughtful, insightful and highly relevant. As governments slash poverty relief programs at all levels and as welfare-bashing reaches an all-time high, it is instructive to take a step back and look at how the current system developed.
O?Beirne, Kate. ?The State of Welfare: An old and tricky question resurfaces.? National Review 54.2 (February 11, 2002): 1--2. Online. Information Access Expanded
...es adopted immediately after the war it is clear that they were highly influenced by the Beveridge report. Mainly so through the implementation of Beveridge’s assumptions of the provision of family allowances, the creation of National Insurance and the implementation of a comprehensive health service. The Beveridge report further influenced the social reforms of Labour by providing a list of evils to be eradicated to which the Atlee’s government acted upon with varied success. To conclude, it is a fact that although the actual systems implemented diverged over the years from the model contained in the Beveridge report, the sheer impact that Beveridge had in shaping the post war welfare state was profound. In any case, without Beveridge and his organised plan of action, it is safe to say that the British welfare state would be different to that we know of today.
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...d how mode of production was replaced by large corporate and government organizations. In short, an institutional pattern as such would not function in society unless somehow society was overpowered by demands or conditions.
The ensuing collapse of Fordism and the movement towards a post-fordist society has radically changed the division of labour. While there are a vast number of changes in this system since the 1980s, this essay will examine how a new division of labour has been established starting with examining how the globalisation has enforced institutions that have established an environment for competition driven tariff cutting through the race to the bottom concept. This will further be examined in the impact that these changes have affected the core consumer of individuals from the north and how people in developed nations are employed with low wages and rely on high credit. Another change that has had a massive impact is growth in female workers from
Cheyne, C., O’Brien, M., Belgrave, M. (2008). Social Policy: In Aotearoa New Zealand (4th ed). Australia and New Zealand: Oxford University Press
In this essay it will first define labour market and then it will discuss the use of active labour market policies (ALMPS). The essay will begin by giving a brief definition of active labour market policies and their background internationally. This essay will then outline the Irish economy, ALMPS in Ireland and the effects of these policies in Ireland. The essay will then go on to outline the consequences of failure when a policy is not successful.
Since at least 2007, Australia has linked welfare and family payments with “socially responsible behaviour” of parents, particularly through income management. First introduced as a part of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) under the Howard Coalition Government, it was extended beyond the NT Intervention and was even represented as “a key tool” in the Rudd-Gillard Labor Government welfare reforms, indicating the importance of analysing it not just with respect to Indigenous Affairs but also in the context of welfare and family policies. Through the examinations of debates on income management measures, Chapter 6 illustrated the process through which governmental management of welfare payments has become a prominent feature of welfare reforms and revealed that parenthood has been the core element by connecting normative parental behaviour with provision of welfare and family payments. Much like the repetitive disputes over welfare reforms since the 1980s, the development of income management has been a process of problematising welfare dependency, and constructing and justifying income management as the requisite response. The Howard measure introduced as a part of the NTER was actually a scheme to advance the Government’s welfare reform based on the p...
Unfortunately, over the years, this system has expanded and consequently it is open to exploitation and abuse. I feel it is necessary to explore and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the benefits system in the UK in order to come to a conclusion on whether this is a fair system for everyone. The main reason the welfare system is functioning in Britain is to help millions of people who have been made unemployed in recent times through no fault of their own. In our current society, Britain’s increasing recession has caused hundreds of businesses and organisations to go bust.