Institutions and Policy Change: The Development of the Child Support Grant in South Africa

Leon Amos Schreiber (2014) Institutions and Policy Change: The Development of the Child Support Grant in South Africa, Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies, 41:2, 267-288, DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2014.905258

Posted: 10 Aug 2014

See all articles by Leon Schreiber

Leon Schreiber

Free University of Berlin (FUB) - Department of Political and Social Sciences; Princeton University - Department of Political Science

Date Written: April 14, 2014

Abstract

Despite the attempt to transform the system of state child support in South Africa shortly after the transition to democracy, the initial changes resulting in the implementation of the Child Support Grant were only partial in nature. This paper explains why institutional stickiness in the shape of failed reform efforts occurred in certain areas, while radical change took place in others. This effort involves the sequential integration of insights from the historical and rational choice variants of neoinstitutionalism. The resulting analysis accounts for the formation of distinct reform preferences, the strategic interactions which shaped eventual outcomes, as well as the ultimate incompleteness of policy transformation in a process of institutional layering. The paper therefore represents a practical attempt at overcoming the divisions between these neoinstitutionalist approaches, while also producing an analysis of a policy arena that is undertheorised.

Keywords: Social Policy, Social Assistance, Cash Transfer, Neoinstitutionalism, Historical Institutionalism, Rational Choice, South Africa, Child Support Grant

JEL Classification: I30, I38

Suggested Citation

Schreiber, Leon, Institutions and Policy Change: The Development of the Child Support Grant in South Africa (April 14, 2014). Leon Amos Schreiber (2014) Institutions and Policy Change: The Development of the Child Support Grant in South Africa, Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies, 41:2, 267-288, DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2014.905258, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2477745

Leon Schreiber (Contact Author)

Free University of Berlin (FUB) - Department of Political and Social Sciences ( email )

Ihnestr. 21
Berlin, Berlin 14195
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://https://fu-berlin.academia.edu/LeonSchreiber

Princeton University - Department of Political Science ( email )

Corwin Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544-1012
United States

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