IN-EAST News
19.05.2015 - 00:00
Lecture Prof. Ka Ho Mok: Developing Chinese Welfare State in the New Century: Process, Dynamics and Regime Orientation
May 19, 2015
The Research Training Group Risk and East Asia is pleased to announce that Prof. Ka Ho Mok, Chair Professor of Comparative Policy, Vice President (Research and Development) of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, will give a Research Forum lecture on
Developing Chinese Welfare State in the New Century: Process, Dynamics and Regime Orientation
Date: May 19, 2015
Time: 12 noon – 2 pm
Venue: SG Building, Room 183 (IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies)
Abstract
Throughout the last 60 years, the Chinese government has undergone three major phases of policy paradigms since its establishment in 1949: "catching-up development policy" (1949–late 1970s), "unilateral economic growth" (1978–2003) and "people-centered development" (2003 onwards). Realizing the marketization and privatization of social welfare provision and social service delivery has resulted in widening income gap and intensifying social inequality, the development of which has led to social instability and questioning of the socialist regime under the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership, the Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao’s administration had therefore called for the building of a harmonious society by placing more emphasis on "people-centred development". Responding to the call for "social cohesion", the Chinese government has tried to expand its social welfare programmes, increasing its social expenditure and encouraging local governments to develop more social welfare programmes to meet the changing welfare demands of the citizens. This article sets out against the wider socio-economic and socio-political context briefly outlined above to critically examine whether there is a new welfare regime in the making in China, with particular reference to examine the process, dynamics and regime orientation when experiencing social welfare expansion.
Bio
Professor Ka Ho Mok is Chair Professor of Comparative Policy, concurrently Vice President (Research and Development) of The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). He joined the HKIEd in January 2010 and was the Founding Dean of Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Before joining the HKIEd, he was Associate Dean and Professor of Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Being appointed as Founding Chair Professor in East Asian Studies, Professor Mok established the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Bristol, UK before taking the position at HKU.
Professor Mok is no narrow disciplinary specialist but has worked creatively across the academic worlds of sociology, political science and public and social policy while building up his wide knowledge of China and the region. Professor Mok has published extensively in the fields of comparative education policy, comparative development and policy studies, and social development in contemporary China and East Asia. In particular, he has contributed to the field of social change and education in a variety of additional ways, not the least of which has been his leadership and entrepreneurial approach to the organization of the field. His recent published works have focused on comparative social development and social policy responses in Greater China region and East Asia.