This study began in 1989 and is about leaving care and youth homelessness among young women. Little was known about young women leaving care, the early transitions of finding and maintaining independent housing, becoming a parent and managing an independent income. The research was exploratory and conducted in two parts. The first part was an 18 month longitudinal study of a cohort of female care leavers in two local authority areas, following their progress from the age of 17 until almost 19. The outcome of the first part was a typology of care leavers. The second part of the PhD consisted of a test of the typology on a larger sample by surveying a group of professionals through a mailed questionnaire. There were differences in the way the sample managed the transition to adulthood. Those who coped with the transition to adulthood more successfully, moved into independence later and in a planned way. They had good personal skills and resilience which was not adversely affected by the framework of existing social policies. Those who struggled with the transition to adulthood experienced homelessness, debts and problems in caring for their children. They had fewer personal skills, less stable support and were affected by existing social policies. Broadly, the typology was confirmed by the questionnaire sample. The study makes recommendations which affect social policies in housing, social security and employment and training and suggests ways in which the typology may assist social work practice in working with young women in care and leaving care.

This research provides a Thai case-study of social insurance benefit delivery (SIBD) and of the tension between the international norm of a standardized and centralised system and recent trends to diversified and locally responsive public service delivery. Thailand has been chosen as an example of decentralised and diversified SIBD since regional variation of its SIBD seemingly occurred after a more general decentralisation policy had been introduced in the country. Thus, this research examines the extent to which SIBD diversity exists in the way that decentralisation has been implemented in Thailand since the late 1990s. Built upon four theoretical perspectives (social insurance, collaborative public management, decentralisation, and inter-organisational relations) the conceptual framework uses three models of SIBD diversification (Weberian, customer-oriented, and strategic) to explain diversified patterns of SIBD in Thailand. The thesis is a multi-site case study research. Out of 76 Thai provinces, four provinces in the North were purposively selected to typify three socio-economic areas: commercial (Chiang Mai), industrial (Lamphun), and agricultural (Phrae, Nan). Employing qualitative methodology, a mixed method of data collection was undertaken with two major methods: interview with key actors (e.g. government officials, employers, employees) and documentary research (e.g. official reports, minutes of meetings, government plans and strategies). Further, in addition to analyzing content in texts (transcripts, documents), positional mappings and coding were carried out to illustrate the broad patterns of the phenomena studied. This research found that not only decentralisation but also inter-organisational collaboration has impacts on SIBD diversification. Political variables such as national and provincial elites were also investigated but they are evidently not predictors of the diversity. Indeed, decentralisation is a key factor of SIBD diversity which is evident in two of the provinces studied (Chiang Mai, Phrae). In Chiang Mai, being only slightly decentralised, SIBD rigidly follows national norms and routine patterns. In contrast, in Phrae, being highly decentralised, SIBD is highly diversified, especially because of an innovative SIBD project operating in the province. However, this research also finds that collaboration is a key factor of SIBD diversity in the other two provinces (Lamphun, Nan). In Nan, although similar to Chiang Mai with regard to low decentralisation, SIBD has become highly diversified as original and innovative SIBD projects in the province evidently involve several collaborative activities. In Lamphun, while being moderately decentralised, SIBD is just slightly diversified, in congruence with the low level of collaboration in the province. This research concludes that even in uniform systems SIBD can be very different reflecting the variable impact of local initiatives which are evidently results of decentralisation and/or collaboration.

M.Phil. / Past apartheid policies promoted separate development and inevitably affected the economic and social growth of the majority of the South African population. Furthermore, the massive inequalities in income, unemployment, education, health, housing, roads, water and sanitation and the status created by these policies also affected social cohesion, undermined efficiency and economic growth and contributed to a higher level of social unrest and crime, which in turn undermined democracy and development. Two years into the democratic dispensation, the government felt obliged to constrain the pursuit of its ambitious programme and to adhere to the imperatives of a stabilization programme, which restricted the degree to which government proactively pursued a social reform agenda and developmental strategy. A number of reasons are offered for the fundamental shift in policy from the pre-1994 developmental state-led agenda to the post- 1996 market-based approach to both social and economic policy. Even today, the legacy of apartheid is still visible as it was during the height of the apartheid era, and this is reflected in the mushrooming of informal settlements and the illegal occupation of some land demarcated for other purposes. Even now the concepts of providing social security and the obligation of South African government to provide for social security are still new. The issue of social security has developed rapidly since the latter part of the 20 th century. In most democratic states, the obligation to provide social security is entrenched in their constitutions. Before it was entrenched it was up to the individual and the family to provide adequate protection for their families, but today things have changed. The problem with the current South African social security system is that it does not cover rural and urban poor, non-citizen migrant workers and the informally employed. The informally employed and the urban and rural poor do not enjoy any social security protection, unless they are able to meet the most stringent qualifying conditions for any of the social grants. Non-citizen migrant workers also fall largely outside the social security framework that exists in South Africa. Due to the lack of definition, presently there is no uniform definition of social security and this has resulted in various international definitions being used. On the other hand, in an attempt to address the disparity, the South African White Paper for Social Welfare defines social protection as "policies that ensure adequate economic and social protection during unemployment, ill health, maternity, child rearing, widowhood, disability and old age". Social security is one of the means by which people circumvent destitution: it provides for their basic needs when their income stream has ceased, has been disrupted or has not developed sufficiently. The concept of social security has been defined as the "body of arrangements shaping the solidarity with people facing (the threat of) a lack of earnings (i.e. income from paid labour) or particular costs"'. Moreover, it embraces the sphere of complete protection against human damage, an adequate standard of living and social safety net against destitution through preventative measures. In light of the above challenges, it is important that we should have a comprehensive integrated social security structure. This is so because the traditional approach or the Western-oriented approach is used in South Africa and as a result it does not cover the characteristics of the African context efficiently. This includes, among other things, the formal sector-based orientation of the traditional social security model and the risks to which many Africans are exposed. It is of great importance for South Africa to develop its own definition of social security for historical reasons and the country's unique social and economic characteristics. The general objective of this dissertation is to look at possible amendments to the present system in order to provide for a more comprehensive scope of coverage of the present social security. It is also important for South African purposes, and/or in accordance with latest developments internationally, to adopt a wider social protection approach rather than rely on a more limited social notion. Therefore, this dissertation will develop a global analysis of the position of non-citizen migrants in South Africa social security law and its impact on employment relations and labour law in South African. This will provide the basis for developing a future strategy for extending higher levels of protection to non-migrant workers who are entering the country and to meet international social security obligations by introducing changes to national legislation. This will also include possible scenarios for improving the position of many people in South Africa. The dissertation will also cover the issue of how our courts have dealt with these violations. The other aim of the study is to analyze the position of the rural and urban poor and the informally employed from a comparative and empirical point of view. This will offer indigents the prospect of a future strategy for extended levels of protection by the creation of specific mechanisms and by introducing changes in national legislation. Finally, the lack of a coherent approach in South Africa social security is clearly discernible and needs to be researched properly and rectified. The present system suggests an archaic and rigid distinction between social insurance and social assistance. In light with the above challenges, it is important that we should have a comprehensive integrated social security structure. This is so because the traditional approach, or the Western-oriented approach, is used in South Africa and as a result it does not cover the characteristics of the African context efficiently.

LL.D.

This paper is submitted in an effort to bring into perspective the grants elements of social security which have contributed to vast economic changes and to which, paradoxically, they must also adapt.

This paper is an analysis of American's opinions on government spending on Social Security. The main objectives were to analyze the effect of year and cohort membership on the likelihood for American's to say that they think the government is spending too little on Social Security. The data was obtained from the General Social Survey. Results of the analysis conclude that year is statistically significant in predicting the likelihood of those who say the government is spending too little on Social Security. When comparing every year to 1994, 1996 is the only year that year that respondents were less likely to respond that the government was spending too little on Social Security. Every other test year, up to and including 2004, there is a growing likelihood of respondents indicating that the government is spending too little on Social Security. Finally, cohort membership was included in the analysis. Results conclude that the Swing cohort and the Babyboom cohort are statistically significant in predicting opinions on government spending on Social Security when being compared to the youngest cohort, the Babyboomlet-bust cohort. However, the results of the analysis show opposite direction in opinions between these two cohorts. Interestingly, the only cohort not statistically significant is the Silent generation.

In an overall sense, the purpose of this study is to analyze and interpret, from a public choice perspective, the emergence, redirection, and growth of Social Security. To date, there has been no attempt to explain the evolution of this program within an integrated framework of non-market institutional change which incorporates both the recent literature on the economics of bureaucracy with the more traditional literature on the demand for public sector activity. As such, this study represents an endeavor to recast and review the historical institutional evolution of Social Security, taking account explicitly of a theory of bureaucracy, so that the current and future growth as well as the proliferation of the program need not be viewed as entirely unforeseen and with results that are often unpredictable. Alternatively, this economic, political, and institutional case-study of Social Security can be viewed as a preliminary test of the relative explanation power of pure demand- and pure supply-side models of public sector growth. / Ph. D.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.