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Beyond Special Privileges: The Discretionary Treatment of Ethnic Minorities in China's Welfare System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2017

REZA HASMATH  and
ANDREW W. MACDONALD
REZA HASMATH
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H4, Canada email: [email protected]
ANDREW W. MACDONALD
Affiliation:
Center for Asian Democracy, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The social welfare of ethnic minorities is a contested subject with a deep politicalised history in contemporary China. This article uses a new large dataset solely looking at ethnic minorities in China, to analyse the impact and outcomes that new urban social and welfare schemes – with notable attention to the basic medical insurance, and the minimum livelihood guarantee allowance (dibao) – have on the livelihoods of minorities. The data suggests that, contrary to the pro-minority rhetoric of the state, minority participation in social welfare programmes is predicated on the incentive set of local government officials. These findings have strong implications for constructing future social welfare policies, and for understanding their potential differential impact on ethnic minority cohorts.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , April 2018 , pp. 295 - 316
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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