Research

Sociologists have long studied how states radically transform their societies through, for example, the pursuit of rapid and extensive industrialization or the creation of vast welfare states. The former have been studied extensively through the lens of the “developmental states” of East Asia (Amsden 1989; Chibber 2003; Evans 1995; Wade 1990) whilst studies of welfare states have largely been confined to the Global North (Esping-Andersen 1990; Haney 2002; Huber and Stephens 2001; Orloff 1993). What though of the states outside of this sphere, those in the periphery or semi-periphery (Wallerstein 1974) who face premature deindustrialization or have yet to industrialize at all? How have states with limited or uneven state capacity sought to provide for their citizens? What kind of welfare states have these countries built and what kinds of state capacity does it take to do so? My dissertation project seeks to answer these questions through the case of one of the most common types of welfare program – cash transfers – in a country with one of the largest of such programs – South Africa. Broadly, I am interested in the political conditions under which post-colonial states are able to expand welfare provisioning and why certain types of provisioning are chosen. I believe this helps us to better understand both welfare and the state. My work is motivated by a number of broad questions regarding how development policy is conceived, implemented and institutionalised: Who are the actors involved? How do non-state actors (like civil society organizations) work with and against the state to shape social policy? What do these policy choices, and their dynamics tell us about the state?  How might these processes be shaped by politics around gender, race and sexuality? In answering these questions, I make use of a number of primarily qualitative approaches, most notably archival methods and key informant interviews. Although I currently study this with regards to welfare policy in general and social grants (cash transfers) in particular, in the future I plan to expand this to other areas of development, especially climate policy.