Social Policy in a Development Context

Abstract

This paper addresses the following problem: How can social policies be used to enhance social capacities for economic development without, in the process, eroding the intrinsic values of the social ends that policy makers purport to address? The paper argues that this requires rethinking social policy away from its conception as a residual category of “safety nets” that merely counteract policy failures or developmental disasters. Social policy should be conceived as involving overall and prior concerns with social development, and as a key instrument that works in tandem with economic policy to ensure equitable and socially sustainable development.