Social Welfare and Religion in the Middle East: Re-Reading the History of Social Policy in the Region [published in Glob

1. Social Welfare and Religion in the Middle East: Re-Reading the History of Social Policy in the Region[published in Global Social Policy, 2008, vol 8(2)] Rana JawadCentre for Research in Ethnic Relations University of WarwickR.Jawad@warwick.ac.uk

2. The Research Work in progress: ESRC funded, role of religion in social policy in the Middle East (Muslim-Majority Countries); New phase: January 2010 Case studies: Turkey, Lebanon, Iran (and Egypt) Review of social security regimes: State, Religious Welfare Organisations, Religion (Muslim and Christian) Social expenditure � incomplete data Culture: ideals, values, knowledge, defining wellbeing and the social, (conflict over) formation of national identity, history

3. Aims of the Research Develop a new paradigm for social welfare in the region, particularly non-oil producing countries � comparative approach based on cultural analysis Take into account the role and impact of international policy-making bodies and welfare reform Mapping of religious welfare - what it means, how it is organised and how it relates to the state: a continuum of relations Collaboration Competition

4. Overview of Argument Social policy in the Middle East: beyond the Rentier State Religion: towards a new ethic welfare, not based on nostalgia or ideology Culture: negotiation of the meaning of wellbeing and of social policy processes; the power of moral/religious values in shaping design, delivery and measurement of social welfare Recognising social policy as an ethical endeavour concerned with what it means to be human

5. Social Policy in the Middle East: The Status Quo �Rentier� state: narrow focus Since 1990s ? Welfare reform: led by international and regional policy-making bodies e.g. World Bank and EU Islamic economics and traditional welfare institutions e.g zakat (2.5% tax on assets) and waqf (religious endowments) Increasing role of religious welfare organisations

6. Overview of State Social Policies in the Region Since Independence 1940s-1950s redistribution policies: (i)Nationalisation,(ii) Land reform, (iii) mass education, (iv) direct financial transfers to low income groups Oil-boom era, 1970s: accelerated urbanisation, economic development, better labour legislation and social security legislation, better health and education services Short honeymoon due to easy access to capital ? ?�.

7. Polarization of wealth in favour of urban elites, poor technological and human capital development, patrimonial social structures Poor record of democracy in the region ? ? overly weak or overly coercive states Prolonged regional conflict Structural Adjustment Programmes Widening income gaps Undernourishment Illiteracy and under- or unemployment Significant gender differentials �Islam is the solution��.?

8. The Welfare Regimes of the 4 Countries TURKEY: (research supported by Dr. Yakut-Cakar, Bogazici University, Istanbul) Fragmented hierarchial social security system based on employment status Significance of small enterprises, self-employment and unpaid family labour plus considerable informal sector employment Patchy, discretionary social assistance mechanisms Social protection provided by informal support mechanisms including family and clientelistic relations with local or central state authorities - Recently challenged by: technological, economic, political and demographic developments affecting the functioning of labour markets, state-society relations and the role of the family in welfare provisioning; ongoing reforms to restructure the social security system - Need for mentality change Numerous active NGOs: philanthropic approach Rise of a neo-liberal Muslims bourgeoisie

9. IRAN: Continuity and change after 1979 revolution Education, Primary health care Social security: employment-based, incomplete coverage Islamic welfare foundations (boniyads) took over estates of the Shah - Overlap in services, losses due to inefficiency Key ideological role of boniyads Clerical leadership of social policy Social policy as social control Inadequate definition of social security package Generous benefits to army and clergy New Ministry of Welfare: coordinating body

10. LEBANON: Clientelism Religious welfare family care, �subsidiarity� principle Peculiar public/private mix in health care Prioritisation of in-kind services Functional equivalents to social protection such as micro-credit and orphan sponsorship Needs satisfaction, developing capabilities and moral rectitude as main welfare outcomes Strong international influence; Variety of sources of funding due to state lack of capacity �Productivist�/Residual social policy Fragmented and dualistic occupational coverage

11. EGYPT: high social expenditure, inefficient system of social security 6 types of social security schemes with different legal provisions the non-protection of serious risks low coverage in all of the schemes low benefit levels low returns on contributions importance of commodity subsidies popularity of community-based credit unions called �Gamaiyyat� active Islamic welfare NGO sector: Muslim Brotherhood

12. Religious Welfare and Islamic Revival social groups reacting against state corruption and failure: education, health care, income transfers, basic public works growing numbers of educated yet unemployed youth in the Middle East ? Islamic orgs. as middle class orgs. providing jobs and political status for professionals political agendas of some religious welfare organisations alternative vision of society and an alternative political option based on Islam

13. (5) social welfare = fundamental to the identity of controversial political organisations such as Hizbullah and Hamas ? social movements for disenfranchised populations (6) the discourse of Islamic welfare groups ? social justice and human ethics (7) not all Middle Eastern states are in conflict with Islamic (or religious) welfare organisations: Lebanon and Iran ? religious welfare NGOs are sub-contracted by the state to offer social welfare services = common political goals underpin relations between the state and welfare NGOs

15. Significant Conclusions Inadequate data on social expenditure: UN HDR Health/education/military), with the exception of Turkey (1990) = 7.6% of GDP (OECD) International intervention: > 10% of GDP on debt � servicing (Egypt < 3%) Statist, political-economy focus Corporatist, residual or neo-patrimonial social policy

16. Uneven or ineffective contribution-based social security Fragmented and discretionary social assistance schemes Incomplete or ineffective measures of poverty Female-headed households amongst beneficiaries Key problems: housing, jobs, cost of living Main strategy for poverty-reduction: employment creation accompanied by charity (rise of Islamic welfare) Conflation of income-poverty with Social care needs

17. Conventionally Prescribed Wisdom for the Middle East (Socially inclusive) Democracy + (Economic) Development = (State-Centred) Social Policy Is this part of the solution or the problem?

18. Completing/Re-reading the History Is the classic Western welfare state a particular cultural settlement? � based on a combination of historical circumstances ? Legacy of socialist values Liberal democratic structures Capitalist accumulation Histories of social policy in Western Europe are silent on the debt of the welfare state to religious traditions (see Kees Van Kersbergen; Sigrun Kahl)

19. Completing/Re-reading the History Western social policy scholarship: re-thinking the ethics of welfare? Welfare reform Voluntary turn in social policy �Active� vs �social citizenship� Crisis of participative democracy New moral glue, social cohesion Multiculturalism

20. Populist/Social Movements Populist/Social Movements as one possibility of positive social action Populist-led politics in India, Latin America Validity of Confucian values for nation-building and economic development in East Asia Historical role of Islamic social movements since colonial era Islamic organisations: grassroots support, taking their social welfare role very seriously

21. Social Policy and Culture How we think about the welfare state matters for how we understand what is happening to it John Clarke (2004): �Politics of articulation� Welfare state = �institutionalised formations and political-cultural imaginaries� Formation of the nation, definition of the �people� as citizens (Gramsci, �National Popular�) A social settlement is a particular negotiation arrived at by conflicting groups A conjunctural reading of historical actors and forces shaping social welfare

22. Which Way Forward for the Middle East? The impact/legitimacy of social policy The impact/legitimacy of religious welfare groups Balancing the influence of international development institutions with the perspective of other local players in government and civil society Ethics of social policy: Rationalising the public role of religion? (Re)moralising social policy?