The Welfare State in East Asia

During the postwar period, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea emerged as industrial and democratic exemplars in the East Asia region. A less well-known story is of their equally remarkable achievements in social policy reform and the formation of welfare states. Section 1 of the Element provides an overview of welfare state deepening in Japan, Taiwan and Korea and an account of why and how the developmental states institutionalized the social insurance model. Section 2 examines the drivers of social welfare universalization in Japan, Taiwan and Korea, notably the importance of democratization. Section 3 focuses on emerging challenges to the East Asian welfare state and how it has adapted. Though Japan, South Korea and Taiwan evolved their welfare states in a distinctive way historically, the current challenges they face and their responses have converged with other developed, post-industrial democracies.

List of contents

Introduction; 1. The Developmental State and Social Policy; 2. Democratization and Social Welfare; 3. Adaptation for the Twenty-First Century; Conclusion: Exceptionalism to Universalism.

Summary

During the postwar period, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea emerged as industrial and democratic exemplars in the East Asia region. A less well-known story is of their equally remarkable achievements in social policy reform and the formation of welfare states.

Product details

• Authors: Joseph Wong, Joseph (University of Toronto) Wong, Wong Joseph
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.01.2025
• EAN: 9781108814799
• ISBN: 978-1-108-81479-9
• No. of pages: 75
• Series: Elements in Politics and Society in East Asia
• Subjects: Non-fiction book; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / General, Political Economy, Social welfare and social services, East Asia, Far East, Constitution: government & the state, Political structure and processes