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EBookClubs

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Book Colonial State and Social Policy

Download or read book Colonial State and Social Policy written by Kwong-Leung Tang and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 1998 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colonial State and Social Policy looks at the determinants of social policy in developing countries in general and Hong Kong in particular in an attempt to remedy inconsistent results, artificial dichotomies of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and an obvious neglect of developing countries in the field of social policy research. Using an integrated approach of quantitative and historical analysis, the study tests out the variables as predicted by the dominant theories in the case of Hong Kong. Of the three major theoretical approaches that dominate research, the industrial society approach, the social democratic model, and the state centered theory, the state centered theory offers the best explanation of policy development. Meanwhile, historical analysis delineates four phases of social development which are marked by different approaches: residualism, "big bang" expansion, incrementalism, and privatization. The results of the study cast many doubts on the applicability of the concept of the "welfare-state regime," as the developmentalist state of Hong Kong has turned to social welfare to create a peaceful environment for its economic development and to enhance the legitimacy of the colonial system.

Book Social Security Policy in Hong Kong

Download or read book Social Security Policy in Hong Kong written by Chak Kwan Chan and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2011 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Security Policy in Hong Kong: From British Colony to Special Administrative Region of China, by Chak Kwan Chan, is the first book which systematically examines Hong Kong's social security policies across a period of 170 years. In particular, Chan analyses how Hong Kong, the world's freest economy, has maintained its small government by manipulating Chinese welfare ideologies.

Book Repositioning the Hong Kong Government

Download or read book Repositioning the Hong Kong Government written by Stephen Wing Kai Chiu and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relationship between government and society in Hong Kong has become an intensely debated topic as the complexities of governance grow and the old strategies of consensus building without genuine public participation fail to satisfy. Increasingly interventionist, yet lacking democratic credentials, the Hong Kong SAR government finds itself more and more limited in its capacity to implement policies and less able to rely on traditional allies. A society dissatisfied with old forms of governance has become ever more ready to mobilize itself outside of the formal political structures. This collection of studies by leading scholars examines the Hong Kong government's efforts to reposition itself in the economy and society under the pressures of globalization, economic and political restructuring and the rise of the civil society. Drawing on changing theoretical conceptions of state, market and citizenship and on comparisons with other Asian economies,Repositioning the Hong Kong Governmentoffers new interpretations of the problems of governance in Hong Kong and puts forward positive suggestions for resolving them.

Book Social Unrest and the Poverty Problem in Hong Kong

Download or read book Social Unrest and the Poverty Problem in Hong Kong written by Paul Siu Fai Yip and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-02-27 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses the policy and public health challenges in Hong Kong from the perspective of economic and social welfare challenges, specifically focusing on the poverty and inequality research supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) Charities Trust. Conducted by Prof Yip and his research team at the HKJC’s Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong across a five-year period, the book presents analyses based on high quality statistical data to explore some of the socioeconomic roots of the civil unrest in 2019, while also acknowledging the limitations and challenges of trying to build a stronger society under the constraints of the One Country Two Systems policy. Building on extensive research done by the research team and some governmental data, it provides concrete, evidence-based suggestions for reducing poverty in a high-income society, which are useful not only for Hong Kong but also for other societies experiencing similar challenges. It makes an original contribution to research into inequalities, poverty and social policies, and will be of interest to those seeking to understand the ongoing political challenges in Hong Kong and how they relate to the socioeconomic challenges and policies that affect the everyday lives of ordinary people there. It is relevant to academics, students and policymakers concerned with social inequalities and policy intervention.

Book Social Policy in Hong Kong

Download or read book Social Policy in Hong Kong written by Paul Wilding and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A critical analysis of social policy in Hong Kong. An introductory chapter provides background information on the economic, social and political structure of the region. Subsequent chapters cover a variety of issues including health, housing and education. The final chapter constructs a balance sheet of successes and failures.

Book Poverty in a Rich Society

Download or read book Poverty in a Rich Society written by Maggie Lau and published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. This book was released on 2017-03-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hong Kong has remained a wealthy financial hub despite its exportoriented economy being adversely interrupted by the challenging global economic uncertainties and vulnerabilities that have occurred since the late 1990s. Yet, Hong Kong's income inequality is greater than that in any developed economy. The growing unequal income distribution and poverty in Hong Kong have aroused public concern. This book is a timely and important opportunity to advance the theory and practice of poverty and social exclusion measurement, and to conduct policy relevant analyses in Hong Kong. This collection was inspired by the workshop formed one key research output of the Poverty and Social Exclusion in Hong Kong (PSEHK) project funded by the Research Grants Council and the UK Economic and Social Research Council. It is hoped that this collection will inspire comparative research and policy analyses for better policy initiatives.

Book Social Policy Reform in Hong Kong and Shanghai  A Tale of Two Cities

Download or read book Social Policy Reform in Hong Kong and Shanghai A Tale of Two Cities written by Linda Wong and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-07-22 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the richest cities in the world's most populous nation, Hong Kong and Shanghai have recently experienced dynamic growth spurred by more and better-managed capital. These cities also have social problems whose solutions will cost money. Their urban populations are aging. Health finance at the level these "First World" cities demand threatens to consume a large portion of the municipal budgets. Eldercare and social security are now less well covered by traditional Chinese families. Education has become more complex and public tuition, where it occurs, brings with it official plans for schools. Immigrants have flocked to Shanghai from inland China, and Hong Kong's border has become a protector of the former colony's high productivity jobs. Housing problems also have deeply affected both cities, albeit in somewhat different ways. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the similarities and differences between social policies in the two cities. Each chapter covers a different issue: health finance, housing, education, labor, poverty and social security, eldercare, and migration and competitiveness. The contributors explore pertinent developments in each city and analyze the similarities and differences between the two cities' approaches to social policies. They focus on policy reform and the interface between social policy and its environment. One main theme throughout the book is the extent to which spending for capital accumulation is in conflict with spending for social policies.

Book The Public Sector in Hong Kong

Download or read book The Public Sector in Hong Kong written by Ian Scott and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes and analyses the role of the public sector in the often-charged political atmosphere of post-1997 Hong Kong. It discusses critical constitutional, organisational and policy problems and examines their effects on relationships between government and the people. A concluding chapter suggests some possible means of resolving or minimising the difficulties which have been experienced.

Book Poverty in the Midst of Affluence

Download or read book Poverty in the Midst of Affluence written by Leo F. Goodstadt and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2014-12-01 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hong Kong is among the richest cities in the world. Yet over the past 15 years, living conditions for the average family have deteriorated despite a robust economy, ample budget surpluses, and record labour productivity. Successive governments have been reluctant to invest in services for the elderly, the disabled, the long-term sick, and the poor, while education has become more elitist. The political system has helped to entrench a mistaken consensus that social spending is a threat to financial stability and economic prosperity. In this trenchant attack on government mismanagement, Leo Goodstadt traces how officials have created a ‘new poverty’ in Hong Kong and argues that their misguided policies are both a legacy of the colonial era and a deliberate choice by modern governments, and not the result of economic crises. This provocative book will be essential reading for anyone wishing to understand why poverty returned to Hong Kong in this century. The book has been thoroughly revised and updated for this new, paperback edition. ‘Leo Goodstadt has identified the New Poor as those made vulnerable through diminishing access to essential services and opportunities. The culprits are misguided policies, and the callous and uncaring decisions of those in power. This compelling critique carries weight and demands a response.’ —Christine Fang, Former Chief Executive of The Hong Kong Council of Social Service ‘This is a critical reflection on Hong Kong’s path of social development and a most discerning analysis of the Third World mentality espoused by the government and the business community in the area of social welfare.’ —Lui Tai-lok, Chair Professor of Hong Kong Studies, The Hong Kong Institute of Education ‘Welfare spending was like “pouring sand into the sea to reclaim land”, thought one Chief Executive. Governments restrained social spending based on that skewed view . . . This book is meticulously researched and painfully insightful. It is a masterly chronicle of Hong Kong’s social welfare policy.’ —Anna Wu, Non-Official Member of the Executive Council, HKSAR

Book Hong Kong s 2019 2020 Social Unrest  The Trigger  History And Lessons

Download or read book Hong Kong s 2019 2020 Social Unrest The Trigger History And Lessons written by Bernard Yeung and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2020-10-16 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an anatomy of Hong Kong's 2019-2020 social unrest, which has significantly damaged its economy and image. A coalition of Opposition to the Communist Party of China (CPC) emerged in Hong Kong after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident. The Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution which took effect in 1997, defined 'one country, two systems' in Hong Kong but inadvertently installed an 'opposition politics' system that the city was unfamiliar with. Fresh out of a colonial system, Hong Kong did not have the socio-ecological system to hold politicians accountable for their policies. For more than two decades, the tug of war between the Opposition and all other politicians has been delivering inconsistent public policies raising the costs of living and income disparity while hollowing out job opportunities. As a result, the younger generations have been immensely hurt. Meanwhile, the Opposition Camp has been promoting the blame narrative that the CPC is chipping away at Hong Kong's democracy and freedom. While the narrative's empirical evidence is weak and its linkage to Hong Kong's economic grievances is absent, the Opposition Camp has fallen captive to the narrative in the sense that its legitimacy is now tied to the narrative.For more than twenty years, rallies built on the blame narrative have profoundly influenced the development of people who grew up after 1997. Furthermore, the year-long unrest has socialised many more to adopt the narrative. The younger generations have been hurt by inconsistent public policies, and on top of that, the blame narrative has robbed them of any coherent social identity; and finally, the unrest has further dimmed their future. Hong Kong is now facing the problem of how to reincorporate a significant portion among its younger generations into mainstream society. This book offers in-depth analyses of the journey, identifies government and societal failures, and suggests long- and short-term policy directions.

Book Governors  Politics and the Colonial Office

Download or read book Governors Politics and the Colonial Office written by Gavin Ure and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book fleshes out the impact of political figures and how their actions, and inactions, affect various imperial or Hong Kong political and administrative affairs. The tendrils of Hong Kong's budding autonomy from the United Kingdom are identified and followed with attention paid to the various actors, including observing which actors fade in importance and which ones seize more of the stage.

Book Welfare Capitalism in East Asia

Download or read book Welfare Capitalism in East Asia written by I. Holliday and published by Springer. This book was released on 2003-09-18 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Policy has been a key dimension of dynamic economic growth in East Asia's 'little tigers' and is also a prominent strand of their responses to the financial crisis of the late 1990s. This systematic comparative analysis of social policy in the region focuses on the key sectors of education, health, housing and social security. It sets these sectoral analyses in wider contexts of debates about developmental states, the East Asian welfare model and globalization.

Book Chinese Social Policy in a Time of Transition

Download or read book Chinese Social Policy in a Time of Transition written by Douglas Besharov and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-05-17 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of China's spectacular economic growth is well known. Less well known is the country's equally dramatic, though not always equally successful, social policy transition. Between the mid- 1990s and mid-2000s---the focal period for this book---China's central government went a long way toward consolidating the social policy framework that had gradually emerged in piecemeal fashion during the initial phases of economic liberalization. Major policy decisions during the focal period included adopting a single national pension plan for urban areas, standardizing unemployment insurance, (re)establishing nationwide rural health care coverage, opening urban education systems to children of rural migrants, introducing trilingual education policies in ethnic minority regions, expanding college enrolment, addressing the challenge of HIV/AIDS more comprehensively, and equalizing social welfare spending across provinces, among others. Unresolved is the direction of policy in the face of longer-term industrial and demographic trends---and the possibility of a chronically weak global economy. Chinese Social Policy in a Time of Transition offers scholars, practitioners, students, and policymakers a foundation from which to explore those issues based on a composite snapshot of Chinese social policy at its point of greatest maturation prior to the 2007 global crisis.

Book Managing Social Change and Social Policy in Greater China

Download or read book Managing Social Change and Social Policy in Greater China written by Ka-Ho Mok and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: East Asia is at the heart of the global economic transformation, and the countries of the region are witnessing rapidly changing labour markets, alongside the pressure to cut production costs and lower taxes in order to become successful ‘competition states’. These changes have resulted in increased welfare demands which governments, organizations and agencies across the region have had to address. This book examines welfare regimes in the Greater China region, encompassing mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. In so doing, it explores the ways in which the rapid growth and internationalisation of the economy across Greater China is presenting new social policy challenges that governments, social welfare organizations and agencies in the region are having to respond to. Rather than simply describing and categorising welfare systems, the contributors to this volume add to our understanding of how one of the major economic transformations of the contemporary era in East Asia is shaping welfare provision in the region. In turn, in this context of economic change, they examine the new strategies and measures that have been adopted in order to reduce the heavy burden on the state in terms of welfare provision, whilst also attempting to diversify funding and provision sources to meet the pressing welfare needs. Based upon extensive fieldwork by leading scholars of social policy, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Asian social policy, comparative development and social policy, social welfare and Chinese studies.

Book The Economic Roots of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong

Download or read book The Economic Roots of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong written by Louis Augustin-Jean and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-15 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the autumn of 2014, thousands of people, young and educated in their majority, occupied the chief business district and seat of the government in Hong Kong. The protest, known as the Umbrella Movement, called for ‘genuine democracy’, as well as a fairer social and economic system. The book aims to provide a dynamic framework to explain why socioeconomic forces converged to produce such a situation. Examining increasing inequality, rising prices and stagnating incomes, it stresses the role of economic and social factors, as opposed to the domestic political and constitutional issues often assumed to be the root cause behind the protests. It first argues that globalization and the increasing influence of China’s economy in Hong Kong has weighted on salaries. Second, it shows that the oligopolistic nature of the local economy has generated rents, which have reinforced inequality. The book demonstrates that the younger generation, which is still finding its place in society, has been particularly affected by these phenomena, especially with social mobility at a low point. Offering a new approach to studying the Umbrella Movement, this book will appeal to students and scholars interested in Hong Kong's political landscape, as well Chinese politics more broadly.

Book Hong Kong s Housing Policy

Download or read book Hong Kong s Housing Policy written by Betty Yung and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines housing policy in Hong Kong using a new and unique interdisciplinary approach – combining the philosophical discussion on social justice with policy and housing studies. It considers both Western and Chinese concepts of social justice, and investigates the role of social justice in a public policy such as housing. As a philosophical treatise on social administration, the book will be of interest to philosophy, public administration, and housing studies academics and students of all countries. Since Hong Kong represents a very special case with massive governmental intervention into the housing market, housing professionals and policy makers will find the analysis of Hong Kong's housing policy useful.

Book Social Cohesion in Greater China

Download or read book Social Cohesion in Greater China written by Ka-Ho Mok and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2010 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction : the quest for a balanced economic growth and social development - ideas and practices promoting social cohesion in greater China / Ka Ho Mok, Ka Kuen Leung and Yeun Wen Ku -- pt. I. Concepts of social cohesion and policy response. ch. 1. Social cohesive efforts to meet youth development needs in Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong / Sandra K. M. Tsang and Yiu Kong Chu. ch. 2. In search of harmonious society in China : a social policy response / Kinglun Ngok and Yapeng Zhu. ch. 3. Social cohesion in a divided society : lessons from Taiwan's welfare politics / Yeun Wen Ku. ch. 4. One country, two cities : a comparison of perceived cohesion in Guangzhou and Hong Kong / Simon T. M. Chan, Sammy W. S. Chiu and Marcus Y. L. Chiu -- pt. II. Social change and urban governance. ch. 5. Governing a global city in the context of political transition / Tai Lok Lui. ch. 6. Embracing the market : examining the consequences for education, housing, and health in Chinese cities / Ka Ho Mok ... [et al.]. ch. 7. Urban governance from below : a case study of Kaohsiung, Taiwan / Shiuh Shen Chien and Yeilong Wu -- pt. III. Economic well-being, urban poverty and pension reforms. ch. 8. Elderly poverty and old-age pension reform in Hong Kong : issues and prospects / Ernest Chiu and Lisanne Ko. ch. 9. Is welfare restructuring and economic development in post-1997 Hong Kong in search of a cohesive society? / Maggie Lau and Ka Ho Mok. ch. 10. Economic development and household economic well-being in urban China / Xiulan Zhang, Terry Lum and Yuebin Xu. ch. 11. The fragmentation of the old-age security system : the politics of pension reform in Taiwan / Shih Jiunn Shi.