Document Type : scientific

Author

• Ali A. Saeidi

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to have a general analysis of the obstacles to the development of a social policy in the post-revolutionary Iran by emphasizing on the places of social policy in the development plans. The paper argues that these plans, more than anytime in the past insist on focusing on the different issues in social policy and welfare in different parts, particularly on social protection issues, as by the post revolutionary constitutional law the state is defined as a welfare state. The paper also argues that despite the fact that the decision makers try to bring social policy to be higher up the agenda, to ensure the well-being of all of their citizens, the plans suffer the lack of a comprehensive social policy in the sense that there is no social policy discourse to fill the gap between theory and practice. Thus, the challenges facing the government in order to develop such a policy program in terms of social policy choices is how to bring together real stakeholders, whether the third sector in the society or social groups, theoreticians, elites and policy makers, to discuss the subject matter within focus groups and workshops. In addition, the paper tries to focus on the role of the stakeholders in the various sectors, i.e., public, private and voluntary sectors, and social groups to draw a realistic and accomplishable social policy program, a focus on the strengths and weaknesses of such programs and making priorities in the social policy. We suppose that we have to learn lessons by classical welfare states and their recent crisis which led to the argument of the end of the welfare state but we need an Iranian style of social policy in order to target the main challenges facing the state and the society by taking our opportunities.

Keywords

• total social policy
• welfare state
• discipline and social development
• the third sector in the society