Benevolent Policies: Bureaucratic Politics and the International Dimensions of Social Policy Expansion

Abstract

Research on the welfare state has devoted considerable attention to social policy expansion. However, little is known about why governments expand social policies serving groups with limited power on issues with low visibility. I call these “benevolent policies.” This class of social policies improves population well-being but produces minimal political gains for the governments enacting them. Why do governments expand benevolent policies if political incentives for reform are weak? I investigate this question by focusing on government responses to malnutrition. Drawing on nine months of fieldwork, including 71 interviews, I argue that the origins of policy expansion can be found in the government bureaucracy. Bureaucrats with technical expertise—technocrats—can play a defining role, deploying international pressure to court executive support and orchestrate policy change. Their actions help explain the Indonesian government’s unexpected expansion of nutrition policies, which serve low-income women and children and address micronutrient malnutrition.

Political dynamics behind different policy options: Long-term care insurance policymaking in Beijing and Shanghai from the perspective of local policymakers

“…Power, defined by access to resources, for example, funds, capital assets, political connections and expertise (Shiffman, 2014; Ho, 2022), is most often identified as the key determinant of policy. However, power is dynamic and does not exist and operate in isolation.…”