Presidential Address
Whenever a wide gap unfolds between the contemporary theory in science and the present-day sufferings and dislocations of human activity and development there is a chance that sparks fly and new theories and ideas eventually spread out throughout the world.
Carl Menger in the late 1860s, while writing regular newspaper articles, noted the vast – unexplained – gap between theory and practice of economic action. His subsequent works and followers are believed to have changed the world, in the same way as Karl Marx did; however being located on the other side of the political spectrum. The then evolving "Austrian School of Economics" was carried eventually to America and still rules our world today, in theory and policy practice; now carrying the name "Chigaco School of Economics."
Now, we once again may ask ourselves are the reports of underdevelopment in Africa and Asia, the outcome of misfortune or the logical outcome of market and governance failures?
On the other hand, are the people in the developed world simply lucky, or is their luck the outcome of the interplay of markets and public intervention?
In case we accept the influence of "the public hand," we may note that in fact nine out of the ten most successful economies of the world have developed a welfare state with high levels of total social spending of around 28 percent of GDP.
The only country of the world that sustains its supremacy without a full-fledged system of welfare state provision is the United States – as it has the unique advantage to potentially and practically bring into play its military might, to sustain its international trade relations and access to raw materials, and its heavy foreign debt that is sustained to a large extent by a couple of countries in Northeast Asia, particularly Japan, China, and South Korea.
We can see that free market capitalism in Chile – which did not and does not have a military might of international importance – has failed at all fronts, and so have e.g. the free market reforms in Russia in the early to mid-1990s. Russia is regaining economic might, by not following a neoliberal route. Chile has turned away from neoliberal rule that lowered long-term economic growth rates of 4-5 percent in the 1950s and 1960s to a mere 1 percent of the 1980s and 1990s – while poverty and social exclusion have doubled and tripled instead (cf e.g. Silvia Borzutzky, 2002).
What's more, the practice of international donations (from developed countries) supports and sustain corrupt leadership of, e.g. certain African, nation-states (cf James Shikwati, 2006), while hundred millions of Africans, and Asians, are suffering the loss of vital income from their very own precious raw materials and agricultural products, or, worse, death and destruction by a constant state of war, crime and violence (that is sustained by a highly lucrative supply of weapons and munitions from the developed countries of the rich North).
The onslaught on humanity, caused by Aids, war, natural catastrophes, terrorism, is on the increase.
At the same time, the global hegemony of neoliberal thought is hampering and directly attacking social policy and social welfare provision, as well as the rationale, the legitimacy, and even the integrity of practitioners, administrators, experts, scientists, and target groups (welfare recipients, the needy and the poor, populations in underdeveloped parts of the world).
It is time to seek out "a new type of thinking," to make continuous efforts in the direction of development of new down-to-earth theories and policies that do away with neoliberal imaginations of truth – and, hence, to start dismantling the sustaining forces of war, violence, corruption, social injustice, and underdevelopment.
At the 2006 Inaugural Conference of the Asian Association for Social Welfare (AASW), the attending delegates have expressed and exchanged their views on the importance of e.g. fighting terrorism, igno-rance, and despair, in Asia and the world as a whole.
For this, Asia needs more experts who address such issues. The Asian Association for Social Welfare has set up a pool of more than 1,000 experts from around Asia and beyond who fight – with their knowledge and expertise – for social welfare and defend social policy, social work and social development.
The new-found Asian Association for Social Welfare sets out to defend actively, directly, and outspokenly Asia from existing neoliberalism, violence, ignorance, and lack of and the ever-increasing threats to the welfare of the people of Asia and beyond.
It is clear to us that given the limited financial resources we have as a newly established institution here in Asia, we have to rely on our knowledge and communication to the world of government experts and officials, the media, business and community leaders, and the general public in Asia and around the globe.
Our aim is to sustainably contribute to public and policy discourses to eventually bring about a turn-around in policy evaluation, planning, and execution, and with it new, better welfare outcomes for the people of Asia, and the world as a whole.
As the founding President of the Asian Association for Social Welfare I would like to invite you to support this idea and mandate that we have committed to and that we aim to carry far into the 21st century.
We hope that once again sparks fly, but this time in the right direction!
As human beings, experts and practitioners, we can and must bring in our knowledge and know-how to facilitate better public discourse, policy design and implementation – in search for a good life and better society, for us and our children to live in today and in the years and decades to come.
Christian Aspalter
