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United Nations Research Institute for Social Development's Documents
From Green Economy to Green Society: Bringing the Social to Rio+20
Will the transition to a green economy be seized as an opportunity to transform social structures, institutions and power relations for more resilient, inclusive and equitable societies? Or will it be limited to technological fixes and market-based solutions that support business as usual? This magazine highlights key findings from research carried out by UNRISD in the lead up Rio+20. “Green economy for sustainable development and poverty reduction” constitutes a core theme in the exploration of the social dimensions of green economy and sustainable development. This inquiry draws on expertise related to poverty reduction, inequality, social policy, environmental conservation, corporate social responsibility, and the politics of social change.
Category:ResearchReads:23Uploaded:05 / 25 / 2012ShareAdd to collectionEngendering Social Security and Protection
Given the existing gender-based inequalities, three different (but potentially complementary) strategies are needed for equalizing social protection outcomes for women and men: (1) eliminating gender-blind and discriminatory practices in social insurance programme design so as to obtain more equal outcomes, (2) strengthening labour market regulations (e.g. minimum wage, wage discrimination) and other social provisions (e. g. public care services) to create a more level-playing field for women within labour markets; and (3) developing systems of social protection that are not linked to individual employment trajectories (social assistance programmes) and over time making these rights-based and broad-based / universal.
Category:ResearchReads:372Uploaded:08 / 22 / 2011ShareAdd to collectionWhy Care Matters for Social Development
Care work, both paid and unpaid, contributes to well-being, social development and economic growth. But the costs of providing care are unequally borne across gender and class. Families in all their diverse forms remain the key institution in meeting care needs. The challenge is to forge policies that support them and are grounded in certain key principles: recognize and guarantee the rights of care-givers and care-receivers; distribute the costs more evenly across society; and support professional, decently paid and compassionate forms of care.
Category:ResearchReads:396Uploaded:08 / 12 / 2011ShareAdd to collectionStates of Disarray: The Social Effects of Globalization
States of Disarray: The Social Effects of Globalization Executive Summary of an UNRISD report for the World Summit for Social Development OVERVIEW The Social Summit could not have been convened at a more opportune moment. If ever there were a time for rethinking social development, it is now. The quickening pace of change has caught much of the international community unawares. Capital, goods and people are now moving with such speed and complexity that it has become difficult to make predictio
Category:ResearchReads:2,833Uploaded:08 / 12 / 2011ShareAdd to collectionIllicit Drugs: Social Impacts and Policy Responses
This paper examines the social consequences of illicit drug production, trafficking and consumption, as well as the factors contributing to the global drug problem. In the light of this analysis, it considers the potential and limitations of the various possible policy responses - both those strategies already attempted and those that have as yet only been proposed.
Category:ResearchReads:436Uploaded:08 / 12 / 2011ShareAdd to collectionSocial Protection and Poverty
In the last decade, social protection has emerged as a policy framework employed to address poverty and vulnerability in developing countries. This report has two main aims: to provide an overview of social protection, and to provide an assessment of its potential contribution to addressing poverty and vulnerability in developing countries.
Category:ResearchReads:414Uploaded:08 / 10 / 2011ShareAdd to collectionCorporate Environmental Responsibility in Singapore and Malaysia
The influences that encourage voluntary environmental initiatives, the types of action taken and the extent to which these may substitute for other forms of environmental regulation form the basis for the discussion in this paper. It begins with a review of the motivations thought to encourage voluntary initiatives over other ways of promoting environmental improvement. The extent to which voluntary action should be seen as an alternative to governmental regulation is then discussed, noting, among other issues, that such action is often closely related to regulatory enforcement. The discussion then turns to a review of corporate voluntary environmental initiatives in Singapore and Malaysia, which is based on original survey results from a sample of foreign-owned transnational corporations in both countries. The concluding section comments on the significance of voluntary action observed in Singapore and Malaysia.
Category:ResearchReads:592Uploaded:08 / 10 / 2011ShareAdd to collectionThe Women's Movement and Political Discourse in Morocco
This paper aims to contextualize debates over the status of women in Morocco in relation to the contemporary political history of the country. As in many other countries, the claims of the women’s movement have been marginalized in conventional political debates. In Morocco, the status of women is a “taboo” subject, and consequently any discussion of the issue elicits deep-rooted passions, particularly with regard to the country’s national identity. At present this tendency is particularly pronounced because Morocco, like other Muslim and Arab countries, has seen the development of Islamic fundamentalist movements. These intensify the national identity crisis, as well as the contradictions inherent in the progressive image of the state and political élites, by focusing attention on the status of women. Indeed, debates over the status of women must be viewed against the backdrop of efforts by the state to contain the forces unleashed by democratization and the threat of political Islam.
Category:ResearchReads:886Uploaded:08 / 05 / 2011ShareAdd to collectionCorporate Partnerships and Community Development in the Nigerian Oil Industry: Strengths and Limitations
The volatile nature of corporate-community relations, which has meant significant loss in oil revenues for governments and a decline in profits for oil transnational corporations (TNCs), has shifted the acquisition of a “social licence to operate” from the periphery to the heart of strategic business thinking within the Nigerian oil industry. Oil TNCs are responding to this challenge with partnership strategies—as a means of contributing to community development, building mutually beneficial relationships with local communities, and reinventing themselves as a force for good in their host communities. This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of different community development partnership (CDP) and poverty reduction initiatives for the Niger Delta, Nigeria, in the corporate-community relations strategies of Shell, Exxon Mobil and Total.
Category:ResearchReads:523Uploaded:08 / 05 / 2011ShareAdd to collectionFrom WID to GAD: Conceptual Shifts in the Women and Development Discourse
The historical account set out in this paper illustrates some continuities in thinking on women/gender and development that link the early WID arguments of the 1970s to the analyses of gender and structural adjustment put forward by a number of neo-classical economists in recent years. The paper also refers to the emergence of a strong strand of feminist thinking within economics that challenges the appropriation of the concept of efficiency by neo-classical economics, and broadens the discourse of efficiency to argue for human and sustainable development.
Category:ResearchReads:922Uploaded:08 / 05 / 2011ShareAdd to collection
