Search results for " Public Policy and Public Administration|Social Policy"

Ecosocial innovations enabling social work to promote new forms of sustainable economy

2020

Social work research and practice that address environmental sustainability have already become prominent. However, a change in unsustainable economic structures is also urgently needed. This study explored emerging opportunities in theory and practice for a sustainable economy that are relevant to the aims of social work. As practical examples, our study concerns ‘ecosocial innovations’, i.e., social innovations that combine ecological and social goals. We analysed how these grassroots innovations in the field of social work reflect crucial shared conceptions of alternative economies. The qualitative data set comprised of 50 ecosocial innovations and six case studies in five European count…

The sidelining of gender equality in a corporatist and knowledge-oriented regime : The case of failed family leave reform in Finland

2020

Reform of the family leave system has been on the Finnish political agenda for a long time but has proved to be a challenging task. The challenges relate to ideological differences between the political parties and to non-decision making in tripartite working groups, where the labour market parties participate in policy formulation. The article analyses the recent attempt to reform the Finnish family leave system under a right-conservative government (2015–2019) as an example of how diverging political ideologies and vested interests undermine adoption of government gender equality policy. The case also serves as an example of the growing influence of knowledge, and especially economic know…

Particularities of youth unemployment and the labour market in Romania

2016

Youth unemployment has become a priority for the European Union. The globalisation, the cyclical economic changes and the fast evolution of the labour market require new public policy and new approaches in order to stimulate integration of the young people into the labour market. This paper intends to highlight the effects and efficiency of the public policy that supports the labour market in the European Union and Romania. The conclusion is that Romania is adopting important measures for facilitating the employment of young people and decreasing unemployment, but the implemented measures and strategies have registered limited progress and more innovative solutions are needed.

El derecho de participación en las políticas sociales: el proceso participativo para la elaboración de la Ley valenciana de Servicios Sociales

2020

espanolEl derecho de participacion ciudadana en la configuracion de las politicas sociales es un elemento esencial en las nuevas formas de gobernanza y en el ejercicio de la gobernabilidad de los estados democraticos. En el siguiente articulo, se presenta el ejemplo de la Ley Valenciana de Servicios Sociales, desgranando las diferentes fases del proceso de elaboracion y profundizando en las aportaciones de los distintos actores sociales. Dicho proceso, comprendido entre el periodo 2015–2019, consto de cuatro etapas con una triple finalidad: 1) hacer participes a la pluralidad de actores (ciudadania, profesionales, entidades locales, entidades del tercer sector, personas expertas) y partidos…

Social orphanhood in Latvia

2014

The reform processes and the developments of social policy to solve the major social problems of the socially vulnerable population, among them, children in particular, take place in Latvia during the last 20 years. Protection of children rights is declared one of the strategic priorities of the state social policy. At the same time the problem of child neglect and child abandonment in Latvia has not yet been sufficiently conceptualized. Already since 1990-ies Latvian society has clearly faced with an objective necessity of solving problems of child abandonment in connection with an increasing number of social orphans. The situation was complicated by the fact that the formation of a fundam…

Conceptualising Violence in Close Relationships : Discrepancies Between Police Conceptions and the Letter of the Law in Finland

2020

AbstractThe focus in this Finland-based study is on violence in close relationships—a term that partly overlaps with the more commonly used ‘domestic violence’, ‘family violence’ and ‘intimate partner violence’. We demonstrate how police officers’ conceptualisations of such violence differ from how it is defined in relevant legal documents. The data consists of the Government Bill and legal text on the subject issued as part of a legal reform enacted in 2010, and of a qualitative sample of freelist responses from 79 police officers. We examined both sets of data using theory-driven directed content analysis and deriving from prevailing theoretical frameworks reflecting the family- and gende…

Paikallisesta globaaliin sosiaalipolitiikkaan ja takaisin

2012

Robotization of Mobile Communication

2020

The aim of this chapter is to systematize the discussion regarding robotization of mobile communication. The chapter begins by clarifying the fundamental role of both robot hardware and robot software in this process. This is followed by a critical overview of existing research, which is classified into three categories. First, robotization is understood as the hybridization of the human body with existing ordinary mobile devices. Second, the incorporation of new robotic software, such as algorithms, artificial intelligence, and virtual assistants, into mobile devices is seen to robotize them from inside. Third, the convergence of smart communication devices, typically as user interfaces wi…

Social policy reforms in Latvia

2019

Fathers’ narratives on support and agency : a case study of fathers in a Finnish child welfare NGO

2017

In Finland, one of the Nordic countries, shared parenting is widely supported through, e.g. family policies and legislation. This is also evident in daily parental practices, as fathers’ share in childcare has increased notably since the late 1980s. Unfortunately, this is not the whole picture of Finnish and Nordic fatherhood: practitioners in child welfare also encounter many fathers with various problems in parenting and life management. In this article, we examine the narratives of fathers who have sought and received support from a Finnish nationwide child welfare NGO. Our research question is: What types of narratives on seeking and receiving support and on their agency do fathers prod…