Making policy for care: experience in Europe and its implications in Asia

Abstract

Purpose

This article provides an overview and analysis of care as a concept and object of policy makers' attention in Europe, mindful especially of the lessons that can be drawn from the European experience. The aim of this paper is to set out a framework to understand care and also to offer an account of the way that different European countries have provided for care (of children and older people) and how existing policies are being reformed and rethought.

Design/methodology/approach

The article underlines the complexity of care as a concept and domain of policy and suggests the need for a broad‐ranging approach to its analysis.

Findings

It shows that the policy configuration has to be thought of as being embedded in and in many ways a function of the primary location and forms of care, the values and culture surrounding care and the arrangements around the mix of providers and modes of governance. While there are many positive lessons from the extent to which European states have become involved in making provision for care – offering financial and other forms of support to families and those needing care and enabling women to pursue a life not completely defined by their care‐related obligations – there are also negative ones such as the outstanding need to connect up policies for care across the life spectrum (in the term used in this article: a care configuration) and to view care in a global way.

Originality/value

This article takes an overview of recent developments in Europe and draws out the implications of developments in Asia.

Citation

Daly, M. (2012), "Making policy for care: experience in Europe and its implications in Asia", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 32 No. 11/12, pp. 623-635. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443331211280674