To make decisions, proposals are essential, but it is also helpful to understand the context surrounding the decisisons. This is precisely how the original approach used by the Department of Social Affairs at Centre d'analyse stratégique in this unusual project can be described:
Throughout the year, the department has observed a number of countries in order to uncover information, original projects and innovations in social policy. The goal has been to identify our neighbors’ (far or near) methods, discussions or proposals made by experts who raise curiosity and show what the major developments within the social models exists.
This overview does not aim to exhaustively cover the current international social status of 2011, and it does not suggest that implementation of these policies would necessarily be relevant in a French domestic context.
When presented with the short overviews, they can spark interest, caution or rejection. The goal is first and foremost to help steer the debate on the future of our social model by identifying similar concerns between France and its neighbours, or by highlighting projects that appear to more iconoclastic for France. This overview also presents the reactions of some experts with whom the Department of Social Affairs worked together with throughout the year, the reactions of staff members in the department, and it references the works produced by the department and that are relevant and highlighted by the findings.
The findings confirm the suspicion that beyond the differences, most social models face the same challenges. These can be cyclical (managing effects of the crisis and helping to find a growth path) or structural (adapting social policies to the aging population, changing family structures and generally fighting against inequalities by responding to new social needs).
The short overviews have been selected subjectively based on one main criterion: the curiosity they evoke. The hope is that this curiosity is also shared by our readers.
- You can naturally add to this overview by sending any information you consider relevant to the following contact: Sylvain Lemoine, Head of the Department of Social Affairs : sylvain.lemoine@strategie.gouv.fr
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