The Role of Social Policy in Post-Conflict Reconstruction

This article argues for greater priority for social policy in post-conflict reconstruction, presenting normative and economic contributions that social policy can make in such contexts. Social policy provides a foundation for judging the level and type of social justice within a polity. Public perceptions of justice, based on levels of inclusion, promote political stability. Social policy can also provide the minimum level of human security needed for labour market engagement by helping reconstruct employment opportunities. The article argues that, despite the importance of social policy, it does not appear at the top of the reconstruction agenda. Instead a narrower, project-centred focus has dominated. Because social policy has not traditionally been integrated into post-conflict reconstruction, much of the present article is devoted to making the theoretical case for its incorporation. The article uses the case of social policy in post-conflict Kosovo to illustrate the underlying theory.