Structural Constraints, Institutional Legacies, and the Politics of Social Investment Across World Regions

Abstract

Abstract Social investment reform strategies vary across countries with regard to the politicization of policy proposals, the key functions of social investment reforms, and their distributive profiles. Since most of the key drivers of variation cluster by regional context, this chapter explores the context of social investment politics across countries in four world regions: western Europe and North America, central and eastern Europe, North East Asia, and Latin America. This context shapes the political actors and coalitions behind the development of social investment (or lack thereof), and consequently the variation in policy output. The chapter also discusses the rationale and added value of the cross- and within-region comparative strategy and provides an overview of the structure of the volume.