Welfare State Theory poised to unite opposition camps

Posted on : 2010-03-15 12:21 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
The theory expands the current concept of social welfare to include all members of society and stands in contrast to neoliberal beneficent welfare
 Co-representative of the Welfare State Society.
Co-representative of the Welfare State Society.

The Welfare State Theory, which proposes expanding the current concept of social welfare as benefits provided to low-income groups and altering the socioeconomic structure to eliminate polarization, is becoming a major topic among democracy and reform groups. In the aftermath of this full-on challenge to the Advancement Theory proposed by conservatives, who are emphasizing beneficent welfare to the disadvantaged based on neoliberalism, the theory appears likely to become a topic of political discourse for opposition unity in the future.

Welfare State Society, a civic group jointly headed by Choi Byeong-mo, Lee Rae-yeong, Lee Sang-yi and Lee Tae-su, plans to convene at building in Seoul’s Yeouido on Monday to propose a “logic and strategy for a dynamic welfare state.” Some 60 experts and civic activists in the areas of welfare, labor, economy and healthcare came together to form the group, which was launched in July 2007 and maintains the goal of the construction of a welfare state.

Among those invited to the meeting to present proposals regarding the “welfare state” to the people are prominent political figures and former Roh Moo-hyun administration figures, including the Democratic Party’s Han Myeong-sook, Chung Dong-yeong, Lee Jong-kul, and Chun Jung-bae, the Democratic Labor Party’s Lee Jung-hee and Kim Sung-jin, the New Progressive Party’s Roh Hoe-chan, Shim Sang-jun and Cho Seung-soo, and the Creative Korea Party’s Yu Won-il, as well as researchers from social and labor movements and progressive camps.

The participants at the meeting are expected to call for improvements to traditional areas of social welfare including employment and healthcare, bold social investment in education and child care, innovative changes in labor-management relations and a shift in macroeconomic policy.

Welfare State Society has established dignity, solidarity and justice as the three main values of a “dynamic welfare state” and set the four main principles of universal welfare, active welfare, a fair economy and an innovative economy. The central concept among these, “universal welfare,” means taking a step forward from the existing social welfare policy centered on the socially disadvantaged and offering social services that relieve employment, child care, health care, housing and job anxieties for all members of society.

Though this concept regards the expansion of welfare to low-income groups as a policy goal, it differs from the “residual welfare” of conservatives, which has small government and market principles as its mainstay. In addition, Welfare State Society has set the goal of changing the socio-structural character not only of welfare but of economic areas as well, including tax policy, management of state finances, and business regulations.

Citing its reason for planning the meeting, Welfare State Society explained, “The people who, in spite of the suffering and anxiety of neoliberal market states, are actually claiming that neoliberalism is all the more necessary have been spurring on the solidification of conservative forces gathered under the banner of ‘advancement,’ yet progressives have remained powerless.”

The group also said, “We need to go about transcending the small differences within progressive camps and finding a larger common denominator, and to proceed on the path to a ‘dynamic welfare state’ that enables larger unity among progressives and a large-scale expansion of citizen support.”

Observers are expecting Welfare State Society’s welfare state argument to become a policy alternative binding together progressives and reformists that were wrecked during the wave of neoliberalism. This is because a welfare state is seen as a common value on which opposition forces can universally agree upon. It is in this context that Professor Lee Sang-yi, co-representative of the group, said, “The welfare state argument opens the possibility for greater unity among opposition groups.”

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