Author: Jos Berghman

Publisher: Leuven University Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9789058674463

This book contributes to the growing amount of literature that is concerned with the relationship between globalisation and social security. The aim of this work is, first, to clarify the impact of the globalisation process on social security systems and, second, to formulate substantive and technical proposals for the adaptation of existing social security schemes to an altered socio-economic context and for the elaboration of international legal instruments aimed at an effective substantive and procedural protection of social security as a fundamental right.The report is divided into three parts. The first part is concerned with the social impact of globalisation and its consequences for social security systems in the high-income economies. The first article of this section considers the nature of globalisation as well as its social impact. It spells out some fundamental challenges facing social security systems. The following article elaborates further on one specific challenge, that is: the need for social security to adapt to the increased territorial mobility of workers.The second part looks at the effects of globalisation on social security in relation to middle- and low-income countries and examines the extent to which existing arrangements in these countries are able to provide adequate income protection to me majority of the population. For the group of middle-income countries, the relevance of globalisation for the privatisation of pension systems is analysed as well as the consequences with respect to their main social functions, i.e. the provision of old-age income security and income redistribution. This is done so through a comparative analysis of Latin American countries that have implemented pension policy reform. The following two articles consider the experience of social security systems in low-income countries. In the first article the impact and challenges of globalisation for existing formal and informal social security arrangements in low-income countries are explored and options are suggested for alternative approaches to social security provision that are better suited to the circumstances of low-income countries. The arguments have been illustrated with evidence from Cote d'Ivoire, a country with a socio-economic situation and social security framework that is typical for the majority of low-income countries. The second article discusses in greater depth the link between informal economic and social security in Sub-Saharan Africa.Finally, the third part calls for a global approach to social security. To this end, the first article in this section outlines a possible strategy for a generalised social protection at the global level based on the human damage theory while the last chapter of this work is concerned with the international legal instruments most appropriate for a better substantive and procedural protection of social security as a basic human right.