ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 compares the social policies taking place in Brazil, China, India, and South Africa with each other on the one hand, and the social policies of these countries of the global South with the social policies in Germany and Great Britain on the other hand. The chapter focuses on two important periods of time, the emergence of social policies and the policy trajectories taken afterwards. The chapter also focuses on the ideas, values, and concepts that were prevalent at the relevant time and left a significant imprint on the social policies pursued. The chapter argues that core elements of Northern welfare were known to important actors in the global South and of some significance. Nonetheless, Southern idiosyncrasies prevailed in conceptualising ‘social security’, a term that epitomises core elements of Southern welfare and the aspirations of non-European countries in a post-colonial era.
