Social Welfare, Democracy and Government - Term Paper Example

Topic:  Social Welfare, Democracy and Government Introduction The social welfare, democracy and government are all intensely connected aspects of a society and a country. The welfare of the country and its citizens are always the topmost priority of any democracy or government. Britain being a democratic country has a prolonged history of social welfare policies and strategies. The country has extensive social welfare policies to cater to the well being of its citizen and communities. “After war every where in Europe showed a grave needs for social welfare :broadly speaking social-democratic policies were initiated even by conservative and Christian-democratic governments, while social democrats became parties of government in most European states”(Shaw,1999). However, during these years a major shift has occurred in the socio –economic structure of the country which led to a new paradigm to the social welfare concept. Britain is a country with multi – cultural backgrounds and requires a well co--ordinate and structured social policies and plans to show justice to the society. 2 –According to Smith (1986)“Historians have engaged in pro-longed debate how far political theories influenced the actual structure of social policies. As most of its history social-policy making in Britain has been closely linked to a wider context of political, social and economic ideas”. A big part of contributing to the welfare of the nation is giving equal rights to all the social groups in the country .The rights of the citizens to vote and select the right representative to govern the country should be an unbiased and unfair fact. The right to vote is the major foundation and strong principle of any democratic government. A democracy to be a successful one, should allot a substantial voting power to all the social groups of the country. As per (Hannemann, 2003) “In almost all democratic national elections an individual vote cannot change the election outcome. The fact that many individuals nevertheless participate voluntarily in such elections suggests that people do care about democracy as such”. The main reason for the appreciation for the right to vote is that, it gives the citizens of a country a upper hand in the decision making process of the nation. However, with all this well planned social policies and democratic government, there are still many social groups who are devoid of their basic right of the democratic government. A country like United Kingdom has various social groups like youngsters, women, senior citizens, disabled, asylum seekers and prison inmates. Among all of these, asylum seekers and prison inmates are the one which is most undermined in regard to voting rights. According to (Guardian News,2010)“Prisoners are to get the right to vote as the government is poised to throw in the towel in a long-running legal tussle with the European court of human rights, it emerged today. It is understood that the coalition is to confirm that it is ready to change the law to remove the voting ban on more than 70,000 inmates of British jails”. I) Right to vote an integral part of the democracy Democracy is a form of government which gives exclusive rights to its citizens in the governing of the country as well as bestows other supreme rights to its people. As per (Deth,2009) “Modern societies are confronted with a number of virtually unsolvable problems. Particularly prominent are complaints and grievances about the increase of social egoism and isolation, declining feelings of solidarity and community, a public withdrawal from the ‘dirty’ realm of politics, the raise in ‘minor’ forms of criminality, and the decrease of social and political engagement – to mention only a few examples”. Britain having a well defined social welfare structure is not justifiable in concern with the real active voting right. Many minorities and under privileged are stolen of their right to vote, even being a genuine part of the country. Generally in a democratic nation, an adult crossed the age of maturity has the right to vote and express his freedom of human right. Nevertheless, most democracies make exceptions when it comes to the real execution of voting rights. It is a known fact that the educated and wealthy get more rights and privileges in comparison to unrecognized social groups of thecountry.The under privileged social groups likes the asylum seekers, prisoners, are neglected and ignored and doesn’t get a chance to be a part of the government. The obvious reason for this is that these unionized social groups have no immediate representative to talk on their part. II) The plight of prisoner’s asylum seekers in regard to voting right The voting rights of prisoners and asylum seekers are seriously a big complicated issue which needs dire attention of the government. In the current times, all the people who are convicted and imprisoned do not hold the right to vote. The BBC, states that “At present, all convicted prisoners are barred from voting, but the European court ruled in 2004 that such a ban was unlawful. The government had indicated it was prepared to grant voting rights to all prisoners serving under four years”(BBC,2011). However, the United Kingdom’s House of Commons is less receptive to this proposal and is shown high disinterest to act on it. It is very unfortunate and biased situation that the prisoner’s are devoid of their fundamental right to vote. Apart from prisoners, the asylum seekers are also subjected to unfair treatment and are given least attention when it comes to voting rights. The United Kingdom, being a democratic country has the legal and moral obligation to allot the right to vote to all of its citizens without any disparity. However, there is clash of thoughts among the public whether to give these criminal the right to vote as they have no clear vision towards goodness. Similarly the asylum seekers are another group who are utterly devoid of this basic right to vote and express their freedom of choice. In Britain, there is a considerable amount of asylum seekers and they are allowed to stay in the country on humanitarian grounds. UK Border Agency (2011) states that, “Asylum is protection given by a country to someone who is fleeing persecution in their own country. It is given under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. To be recognized as a refugee, you must have left your country and be unable to go back because you have a well-founded fear of persecution”. Unlike general citizens, prison inmates and asylum seekers are barred from local election and this could be due to the reason that there exists skepticism about their ability to use this fundamental right along with their identity crisis. Even though, on the humanitarian grounds these groups possess the right to participate, even though their moral and social background is a thing of deep concern to the authorities. Nonetheless, the United Kingdom has the entire obligation to protect the right to vote of these undermined social groups. This issue of neglect ion prisoners, asylum seekers and other minorities from voting has raised a lot of concern and controversies in the recent times. In recent times, several social activists and human right activists have broiled the political scene for their concern for these under privileged social groups. According to them, these groups have a lot to contribute to the society and nation, and have equal right to vote in local and national elections. However, some are of the opinion that the asylum seekers and prison inmates at times take advantage of the government and can become threat to the nation if not controlled in a right way. Part B): Discussion about social welfare for elderly people in UK The elderly citizens are those social groups which require much attention and care from any government or nation. It is seriously, the prime obligation of any government to give utmost importance to the personal needs and rights of a senior citizen.UK being a developed nation, has a considerable amount of obligation to set up a well balanced social welfare reform to attend to the basic social and health needs of its elderly citizens. The main problem faced by the British welfare state is due to its unplanned and unorganized social policy which led to a great deal of conflicts and contradictions in ideas and policies. This is what persuaded the Blair government to make credible changes in the British social reform and social policies operation (Gilbert,2001,pg.47 ). It is crucial for the UK government to reconsider the welfare reform and review their objectives to give better service in regard to health and welfare of their older citizens. The British welfare state emerged in 1945, and since then the debate is going on for a change in the social reform of the country. However, the development in policy structure in future is indeed a thing to ponder over. Tony Blair was not the first post-war Prime Minister to keep an eye on the improvement of welfare reform, but in the first 25 years since the welfare state was initiated, the debate regarding the scope and abolish means-tested benefits was thing of controversy. The future of social welfare reform is a subject of great debate and there had been strong voices to enhance the welfare policies to bring about betterment in the quality of living of the elderly citizens of the country. Who should provide services to elderly people? Currently, Social care is not only the responsibility of the government but of the country and society as a whole. Ironically, in UK, thousands of old people are left poor and unnoticed without any social care from voluntary, government or non – profit organization sectors. Recently, credible number of older people had cuts in their social care provision as labour came in to power. However, many town halls still provide social care benefits like meals on wheels, visit to day centers, and visiting home by social workers for pensioner with critical medical needs. Due to the considerable lack in the funding provisions, the council only attends to the need of those elders who are in dire need of medical assistance. It is very unfortunate to see the pensioners sell their home to adjust to their immediate medical needs to support their lives. Older people constitute an increasing proportion of population in UK and they always have been a focus of social policy reform for government. Unfortunately, this social group does not receive the care and privilege they deserve from the government. “There are now more people in the UK aged 60 and above than there are under 18. Based on the latest estimate of fuel poverty in the UK, there are over 3.5 million older people in fuel poverty. 36% of people 60 or over in GB sometimes stay or live in just one heated room of their home to save money(Help the aged,2010).The current social welfare policy gives provisions like pension benefits, housing benefits, health, medical and mobility care. Compare to other social groups, older people are the main recipient of benefit in health social care sector and social security care sector. “Social security and pension plans are the most cost consuming issue which are contentious due to their cost scale .Despite the scale of public spending , still there exist a close connection between low income and poverty and old age”.(Alcock,2003,pg.23) Social Ideologies with regard to social welfare There are certain ideologies and theories to be considered when it comes to the subject of social policies and welfare of the citizens of a certain country. Few are; I) Socialism: Socialism is one concept which is mostly confused as a result of misinterpretation from various texts. However, in general socialism can be defined as a collective movement from all sectors of the society to improve the socio –economical status of all of its citizen’s .In UK today, socialism has a strong hold in the political scenario due to the powerful nature of this ideology to five equal statuses to all the citizens of the society. Socialism arouse in UK as a result of a massive inequality prevailed in the country as a result of industrial revolution (Knight, 2010.pg.12).While considering the current situation in UK, there is still exist a large social inequality among the rich and poor class .Many of the older people of the country who are poor struggle to get minimum social needs like, food, shelter and medical care while the rich enjoy luxurious life. The main reason for such a distinction is the negligence and unfocused social policy planning and implementation from the part of the UK government. ii) Totalitarian Ideology This is an ideology in which the government instead of concentrating on different political parties attempts to follow a single party’s ideologies and principles. The British National Party has revealed recently that the country has evolved to become a soft totalitarian state and suppression of the political parties has become an integral part of the life of British. This form of government could abolish the right and needs of social groups of the country by reflecting an anti- social element. Basically the right of the citizens to give speech is taken over and a kind of capitalistic attitude takes over. A totalitarian UK government can control every aspect of a social life of a citizen and this can hinder the welfare of all the citizens of a country. There can arise more monitoring on the social welfare agendas, and programs and also on the way the social groups spend the monetary benefits received from government. This indeed is not a welcoming political scenario for the social and economic progress of the country. Current Social policy in UK for Older People Social policy is the analysis and in- depth study of the social services and welfare agendas of a state. Generally speaking, it looks at the concept of social welfare, and the relation it holds with politics and society of a country. In details it covers issues like development and implementation of welfare policies, creating health and housing policies and maintaining stability with income and housing sector. When it comes to elderly people the main focus of interest is towards their health, income and housing aspects. In the first sense, social policy is particularly concerned with social services and the welfare of the state. In the second, broader sense, it stands for a range of issues extending far beyond the actions of government - the means by which welfare is promoted, and the social and economic conditions which shape the development of welfare (Spicker, 2011). The UK welfare structure has gone through two major reforms after its initiation. During the first phase of transition, the central government made some changes in the expenditure limit of the treasury and the main focus during this phase was to enable efficiency in administrative system and also have a control on economic planning. This reform aimed at allocating the resources to department and to other services to create a balanced social welfare service system. The second which happened in 1980, mainly targeted on remodeling the civil service and administrative pattern of the welfare system.Currently the government upon the review of social policy has influenced the old age people to join the workforce to push their income level. When one in take in to consideration the ideologies of social polices like socialism and totalitarian approach, there can be seen a wide gap in what is said and done. In reviewing the current social status of the UK citizens, one can make out that the life of the people is completely against socialism theory. The old aged are living a life which is inferior and much social injustice has been practiced on them by the biased government. Since the UK political scene is slowly transforming in to totalitarian government, the citizen’s right to speech and voice out their problems are being repressed. It is unfortunate, that one of the wealthiest and developed countries like Britain is turning blind to the social ideologies and words of socialists like Duncan smith. The importance of Duncan Smith’s policy with in regard to social policy formulation With the dawn of the millennium, there was a significant growth in the economic sector which gave a strong platform for the UK government’s labour party to act on social reforms.Eventhough the government made many promises as to the social upgrading; less was enacted upon for the betterment of the society. Moreover, the recession and economical crisis has led the government to monitor the actions of voluntary sector and non profit organization which serves to the social welfare of the older people in a positive way. There was an occasion where, British Prime Minister, Tony Blair had a row with the noted social policy analyst Ian Duncan Smith over a North London Hospital, allegedly neglecting a 94 yr old woman of continued debate on waiting lists(Bocel,2002,pg.7). Duncan states that, the people protests in the UK, mainly because the government does not have a proper and well built social policy to support the old people as well as the social workers and other voluntary sectors. He also states that, Britain being one of the wealthiest nation, should be responsible to assure well being and social equality to people at all levels. According to Ian Duncan Smith, the housing policy also should be seen as a prime part of social policy upgrading. This will help to get people back in to work and in a position to upgrade themselves, their families and communities. Unfortunately, the housing system over the years have resulted in immense poverty, broken estates with workless ness, dependency, breakdown of family and addictions. Nonetheless, arguments on public services has been a much debated topic in the political arena of the UK government. The main issue while formulating social policy is the lack of focusing on the real social issues of the old age people like low level pensions, medial benefits and housing problems. It is essential for the UK government to give much support to the social workers, voluntary sector and statutory sector for better social reform. Role of informal carers , voluntary sector and statutory sector in social welfare Since the numbers of old people is increasing in Britain, the demand for social carers is also growing consistently. It is very likely that the number would substantially rise in future as old people rely heavily on the informal carers and social carers from voluntary and statutory sectors. Generally, most of the informal carers for older people are adult’s children or spouses. About 85 per cent of disabled older people living on their own in England receive informal care and, of these, over 80 per cent receive care from either an adult child a spouse or both. According to the survey carried out by the Personal Social Services Research Unit, the demand for informal carers are suppose to get doubled in coming years (Pickard, 2008).So the government definitely needs to make considerable changes in their social welfare policy to support the informal carers who work formally and voluntarily taking in to consideration the high demands for their service in society. Apart from informal carers, the voluntary sector and the statutory sector also play an important role in reviving the social status of the aged and disable group of the country. Voluntary sector is the heart of the social services in the British society, and serves much of the older and elderly population of the country. The voluntary sector has seemingly taken much positive steps towards the genuine changes in the social policy formulation of the country. They have made noticeable contribution to the eradication of social inequality in the country and also influenced the government in making necessary alteration in the social policies to bring about social justice among old and disabled people of the country. The current changing atmosphere in the political scene of Britain seems much favorable to voluntary sectors, as the government recognizes the value of such groups and their contribution to the society. Currently, the government and banks are initiating monetary benefits to involve more social projects to engage the voluntary sectors in social service activities. The statutory sector is also an indivisible part o f the social service sector. The UK government wants to make the social structure of the country strong by supporting the social workers and enhancing the power and dimension of their work. The statutory sector holds more power and the roles of the social workers are more defined and planned. Statutory sector works well in co –ordination with the local council and assist them in best possible way to carry out their social service operations. Conclusion The social groups like old people, prisoner and asylum seekers are long been unrecognized and ignored in developed and wealthy nations They were neglected and devoid of basic rights which others enjoyed with much ease. However, in the recent times things have changes due to the strong voices raised by some chosen activists, social groups and NGOs. The Telegraph news paper states that “Prisoners are to be given the right to vote for the first time in more than a century, it was disclosed last night. The proposal was put forward as part of a Government consultation on which prisoners could be eligible to vote in the next general election” (The Telegraph,2011) . The action is taken by ministers after 5 years as the European Court of Human Rights recognize that the ban on voting right for prisoners is unlawful. When it comes to old aged, much debates and arguments is going on to qualitatively increase their benefits and living standards. These are vulnerable groups and protection of their rights and needs is a primary objective of the government. The government should practically make available the rights and benefits assured to the older citizens; otherwise the government is deceiving them in every form. Recent debates and arguments going on among the British nationals as to social welfare reforms have given rise to some positive actions among politicians and governmental officials of the country. Bibliography Alcock, P., 2003. The students companion to social policy . 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Bochel, C., 2002. Social Policy Review 14: Developments and Debates: 2001-2002 . 1st ed. Bristol: The Policy Press BBC. 2011. Prison votes will be kept to a minimum. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12233938. [Accessed 21 February 11]. Deth, J.W. 2009. 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