ABSTRACT
In the world of international social policy relations, mutual perceptions, misunderstandings and prejudices can count for at least as much as the actuality of policies in operation from one place to another. This chapter deals with a review of the current situation and, in the context of globalisation and mutual uncertainty, identifies specific topics as possible ‘bridge-builders’ for the future of social policy relations between East and West. The 1950s and 1960s saw the old and especially the new tigers of Asia Pacific variously adapting to and building upon such legacies and impositions in respect of what was thought to be ‘useful’ western social policy. The key social values of deference to superior authority and of subordination of the individual to the interests of the group have always been predicated on an assumption that the group in question is going to continue to be functionally effective.
