ABSTRACT
The Millennium was a heady moment for many people concerned with the international aid system. The ministry's aid programmes to the ex-Communist countries added to my re-thinking of social policy. Although the Second World had been no closer in practice than had the First World to giving social policy equal importance with economic policy, rapid changes in former Communist countries highlighted fundamental debates about what social policy should consist of. The Beijing consensus proved to be a misleading signal for global discussions about social policy. A change in the political climate helped, just as the end of the Cold War meant that economic liberalism and Western-led market-based development was the only show in town, that same liberalism made participation and voice more acceptable. Human rights had not been on the agendas of official development agencies during the Cold War because it was difficult for the West to promote human rights while supporting authoritarian regimes treated as bulwarks against Communism.
