Inclusive States: Social Policy and Structural Inequalities

The heterogeneity of social structures and cultural identities in many developing countries, together with traditional hierarchies, rivalries, and deep-seated biases, has perpetuated inequities. This book examines the role of the state and society in addressing structural inequalities and identifies a set of policy recommendations to redress them.

Structural inequality is defined as a condition arising from unequal status attributed to a category of people in relation to others, a relationship perpetuated and reinforced by unequal relations in roles, functions, decision rights, and opportunities. Inclusive states are those that direct policies to address the needs of all, that respect the rights of citizens to exercise voice and influence on which services are provided and how they are delivered, and that have an interest in strengthening the social contract with their citizens.

This book highlights 2 key challenges for social policy: policy design needs to take into account the weaknesses of basic state functions in many developing countries, since these have important ramifications for social policy outcomes; and in most developing countries social structures marked by historically rooted structural inequalities pose significant challenges to the provision of services and require a long-term commitment to address underlying questions and problems. This book describes challenges found in different contexts and the ways in which these challenges can be-and are being-addressed.

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