East Asia and Theories of Comparative Social Policy

Abstract

This chapter looks at some explanatory factors for social welfare development. The research question ‘why state welfare?’ has intrigued many researchers in western democracies, and there is no lack of explanations and theoretical frameworks for this phenomenon. In fact, pioneering studies of this question could be traced back to the early 1960s. Since then, competing theories have been proposed. There is some agreement among analysts that no single theory is comprehensive enough to explain the origin and development of state welfare in the advanced industrial countries. Specifically, these theories encounter difficulties when they are applied to former communist countries and the nations of the Third World (MacPherson & Midgley, 1987). There is as yet no systematic or coherent theory of welfare development which is uniquely rooted in non-western social contexts. Applying and testing these theories in non-western contexts is nevertheless desirable, as this would pave the way for future analysis.