Social Sciences Lecture Series | Dr. Jun-gi Heo › view all

Diffusion of Disability Policies as Social Right. Cases of South Korea and Brazil

Jun-gi Heo (GwangJu Public Agency for Social Service - PASS) on "Diffusion of Disability Policies as Social Right. Cases of South Korea and Brazil"

Abstract

Existing welfare state theories have focused on internal dynamics, making it difficult to identify the point at which ‘global social policy’ influence within-state policymaking. I thus used the diffusion theory to examine if and how policy ideas from outside the state influenced the formation and change of disability policies. In particular, if we can capture the spread of similar types of disability policies even in countries with little political, economic, geographic, and historical proximity and similarity, we will be able to confirm that the influence outside the country is even greater.

In this study, we examine the process by which Social Rights was introduced into the disability policies of Korea and Brazil, and analyze the influence from outside the country and the dynamics of domestic actors to address the spread of the policies in both countries. Korea began to be influenced by the Asia-Pacific Decade of Action for Persons with Disabilities and continued to be influenced by international organizations until the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. At this time, it can be confirmed that policy diffusion occurred from below, with the disabled people's movement leading the policy diffusion. Brazil has also been strengthening social rights in its disability policy since the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by revising existing disability policies to suit the nature of the Convention or introducing new ones. Brazil also tried to enact domestic laws to enforce the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and promote its implementation through the disability movement by spreading policies from below. The significance of the study that can be confirmed through these two cases is as follows. In a current situation where nation-states are tightly connected globally, examining the formation and trajectories of disability policy in Korea and Brazil contribute to explaining how the path of the existing welfare regime is transformed with the introduction of new policy ideas.

About

Jun-gi Heo is a researcher at the GwangJu Public Agency for Social Service (PASS), South Korea. His academic interests primarily focus on Korean disability policy. For his doctoral dissertation, he explored the formation and evolution of Korean disability policy by integrating policy diffusion and historical institutionalism. Driven by a commitment to inclusive research, he strives to infuse his work with the perspective of people with disabilities. This endeavor is particularly challenging yet personally significant for him as a blind individual. Consequently, he also delves into the study of disabled identity, welfare states, and social policy research from a disability perspective.

This lecture is organized by the CRC 1342 "Global Dynamics of Social Policy" and part of the CRC Jour Fixe event series.