Two worlds, too apart to converge? A comparison of social regulation policies aimed at the employment of disabled people in Norway and India

This article situates the social regulation policy reforms and compare them to chart convergence within the policy goals and content for these two very different countries. The article relies on evidence from secondary sources, such as legislations, country reports and policy dossiers since early 1990s. The taxonomy of regulations, economic means and information strategies, popularly understood as “sticks, carrots and sermons” grounded in institutional theory, is employed to systematically analyse and present the similarities within social regulation policies. “The most instructive comparisons (…) are those that surprise” and through documentary analysis this article demonstrates that there is a surprisingly high degree of convergence concerning the social regulation policy goals and content for Norway and India. This article expands the boundaries of the still emerging field of comparative disability policy research and will help policy makers to understand the social regulation policy options in a cross-national perspective. The research findings reveal the need to uncover driving forces putting these countries on the path of policy convergence.RésuméCet article propose pour la première fois de comparer les politiques de régulation sociale de l’emploi des personnes handicapées en Norvège et en Inde. Il présente la mise en place des reformes dans ce secteur et les compare pour interroger une éventuelle convergence, tant dans les objectifs que les contenus...
Source: ALTER - European Journal of Disability Research - Category: Disability Source Type: research