[Reader-list] Twelve theses on the Global Social Welfare State

[geert]

http://www.valt.helsinki.fi/staff/jproos/delhi.htm

Jawaharlal Nehru University
School of International Studies
Centre for American and West European Studies
International Seminar on Welfare State Systems: Development and Challenges
New Delhi 9-11 April 2001

Final Declaration
Twelve theses of New Delhi

We, social scientists from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, and from
different disciplines have discussed the Welfare State as a global
phenomenon and arrived at the following General Conclusions:

1. We believe that Social Welfare is an attainable global goal.

2. We believe that Social Welfare is a Human Right which entails also a
duty.

3. We believe that excessive disparities of living standards between
citizens are unacceptable.

4. The Welfare State requires solidarity among the citizens, democracy and
transparency , a minimum level of social benefits and services guaranteed to
all citizens, autonomy of the social welfare agencies, universality of
benefits and shared costs.

5. The Welfare State has been based on different models which emphasize
different principles for the provision of social benefits.

6. It is important to distinguish between the Welfare State and Welfare
Society, in which the provision of social benefits is the joint
responsibility of the state and non-governmental organisations.

7. We believe that all citizens should participate in contributing to the
costs and sharing of the benefits of the Welfare Society, thus making it an
institution they wish to defend.

8. We, however, wish to emphasize that there is no one universal model of
the Welfare Society. The fundamental objective, social welfare for all
citizens, can be guaranteed in very different ways.

9. We are convinced that the Welfare Society, even at a low level of
economic development, would have beneficial effects on economic growth and
development.

10. We believe that in Asia and Africa, the countries wishing to embark on a
path to Welfare State, should develop and experiment with new alternatives,
based on the social and community structure and a very broad role for the
NGO's.

11. We invite all scholars from different countries to co-operate in the
development of new models of the Welfare State and Welfare Society.

12 As a possible means to advance the global Welfare Society, debt
cancellation can be made contingent to development of Welfare Society.

11 April 2001