Social Justice

Another view discusses social justice in terms of equality of access to basic social services as well as employment, some degree of equality in distribution of income and assets and access to micro-, meta- and global-level dispute-resolution mechanisms that are mandated to provide a remedy. A distinction, however, should be drawn between equality of access and equality of outcome. Whilst in areas like education equality of access is emphasized, with equality of outcome being a desirable objective, in other areas like health and nutrition equality of outcome is the objective. If equal access to primary health care services does not result in a lowering of infant and child mortality, provision of a universal primary health service would have failed in its objective. The objective of equality of outcome may well require an integrated social policy.

Health and education could well be approached not only as needs from a societal point of view but also as individual rights (Gough, 1998). Here social policy is about improving human welfare and meeting human needs for health and education, as well as the distribution of resources and assets that would enable individuals to realize their potential and make contributions to the economic and social life of the country. Whilst on paper social policy simply consists of a set of goals, rules, laws and guidelines, in reality, and like any other policy, it is a product of debate and possibly social conflict over how to solve the most pressing problems of any society (Blakemore, 1998 and Moore, 1978 reprinted in 2000). The process of policy making itself would also have an important bearing over its content and success of implementation. Arguably, the more consensual and democratic the policy environment (with regard to formulation, implementation, monitoring and accountability) the more legitimised the policy and thus more likely its chances of success.

History and International evolution

Yet, the history of social policies around the world reveals that western style parliamentary democracy is neither necessary nor sufficient for their success. For evidence one should look at the achievements of countries as diverse as Cuba, China, Viet Nam, Sri Lanka, the south Indian state of Kerala, Costa Rica, South Africa and Chile in reducing infant and child mortalities, increasing life expectancy, adult literacy, and secondary school enrolment. UNRISD studies of the achievements of social policies in these countries emphasise the importance of historical and cultural legacy, politics of social development as well as institutions and resources for delivering social services (Ghai, 2000).

The MENA region

The MENA region provides interesting and varied cases of social policy that have at times been neither been democratic nor inclusive but have improved the human development in the region in areas such as infant and child mortality, life expectancy and literacy. The main shortcomings of social policy in MENA have been their gender bias, clientalism and urban focus. (Karshenas and Moghadam, 2006). It is in this context that various non-state actors have entered to fill the gap in social provisioning that states have failed to fulfil.

Conflict and violence has also played a critical role in the failure of MENA societies to meet their aspirations in human development. Military interventions by (mainly western) States, particularly the USA throughout the MENA region in the so-called ‘war on terror’ and the long-standing Arab-Israeli conflict have distorted the allocation of national budgets away from social services and towards military expenditure. The continued occupation and annexation of Palestinian lands and continuing wholesale (i.e. military, economic and social) suppression of the Palestinians by the state of Israel have resulted in unimaginable hardship for millions of Palestinians, not to mention the catastrophic impact on the Palestinian body politic. These conflicts have not only severely challenged the prospects for a peaceful resolution of these conflicts; they have fuelled an ever-greater polarisation between East and West and facilitated the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Palestine and the region as whole. Blatant violation and even explicit disregard for well-established international law norms and systems by some States, and a failure of third States to hold these States accountable for such violations have greatly exacerbated the situation and threatened the international legal and political order (Dugard, 2004). All of these developments have severely impacted on social policy.

It is in this context that we believe that a general focus on social policy provides the platform to investigate current social and economic development in the MENA region. For example, political intervention of several Islamic/Nationalist movements in the region (e.g. Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt, Hamas in Palestine and Hezbullah in Lebanon) have been closely linked to their grass root work in providing basic social services (e.g. health, education, housing) for poor communities in the of absence or weak formal state support. In the case of countries, like Iran and Saudi Arabia, where Islam is the state ideology social policy is presented as the ‘benevolence’ of an Islamic autocracy that in the case of Iran is also backed by popular demand emerging out of a popular revolution for social change and equality.

Whilst there are detailed country studies on the relationship between Islamic social movement and social provisioning in countries like Egypt there is a dearth of such works in other countries. There is also an urgent need to works on comparative aspects social provisioning in the MENA region to provide a better understanding of role of Islam, social movements and struggle for democracy, and political and economic autonomy and independence in the region.