Cooperation 'from The Concept To The System: Welfare System In Sweden And Singapore Compared

This paper compares the welfare institution of Sweden with Singapore from the perspective of corporatism. The core question is that during the development of both countries'welfare institution, how dynamic equilibrium between idea and institution is formed.This paper argues that the national idea links inextricably with the development of both countries'welfare institutions. The Swedish corporatism welfare institution has distinctive color of consensus politics, and equality, solidarity, freedom is its core values. Under this kind of value, the tripartite cooperation between workers, entrepreneurs and government has obvious features of social corporatism.Comparing with Sweden, the welfare institution of Singapore has a strong color of East Asian Confucism. Authoritarianism, elitism, pragmatism, and the patriarchal society have a major impact on its welfare institution, which makes Singapore have a system of national corporatism.The paper believes that the core points of corporatism welfare institution lie in four aspects as follows.Firstly, the premise of co-production lies in the complementarity between Institution and the core ideas.In the three areas of cooperation, social, market and government, the institutional arrangements should be complementarily with the first area's idea. The core value of solidarity in the first area should be emphasized. This requires action on two levels. First of all, on the level of society, a culture of consensus, which has a main theme of unity and cooperation, is critical. Secondly, on the system level, the goods or services that most people need and easily lead to congestion and competition, should be transferred from the second area - the market area to the areas where the area of social or government can intervene as much as possible. Thereby we can reduce the shortage of resources or services in competition, promote social closeness, and consolidate the unity of the consensus culture.Secondly, buffer zone is an area which must be emphasized.The fact behind the trilateral cooperation is the game among social, market and government. From the perspective in isolation, the core values of each sphere are not same. Social sphere concerns about solidarity, fair and equality. Market pays more attention to free competition and efficiency. The Government concerned more about authority and regulation. And successful cooperation must be built on the equilibrium of values in three spheres. This equilibrium arose in the gray areas of cooperation - the buffer zone. In the buffer zone, conflicting values of the three spheres have an opportunity to communicate with each other. The various organizations within the buffer zone construct a platform of communication for the different spheres, and increase the transparency and credibility of cooperation. Buffer zone is a sphere which must be emphasized and expanded.Thirdly, the core point of maintaining a solid corporatism welfare institution is to reach dynamic equilibrium between idea and institution.Maintaining dynamic equilibrium between idea and institution is a key points for corporatism welfare institution. Maintaining cooperation lies in two points. On the one hand , the dominant idea should be positive, consistent with the background of existence and development of a national system. On the other hand, we need ensure that the political elite can develop the core ideas with a historical perspective, and can make an effective political choice on the basis of the social reality.Sweden and Singapore, the core ideas and corporatism welfare institutions of both countries have reached a dynamic equilibrium objectively. On the one hand, the dominant values of both countries advocate unity, cooperation continuously. This idea becomes the base of legitimacy of two countries'corporatism welfare system. On the other hand, the reforms of the two countries, which are carried out by the political elites under the pressure of inside and outside, are largely from the quantity of cooperation, and do not touch the deep-seated legitimacy of institution.Fourthly, another problem that cooperation must pay attention to lies in the positional equilibrium among workers, entrepreneurs and government.In the process of cooperation, the three part of cooperation must be in a state of equilibrium. This state of equilibrium means that every part must perform their own duties firstly. Government must be able to provide conventional institutional support, and initiate the process of cooperation and regulate or supervise the process. As the social side, labor organizations and employers organizations must follow the common rules of negotiation and consultation and have a peaceful interaction. Secondly, achieving effective cooperation also means that on the social level, the power of organizations of the employers and employees should be in dynamic equilibrium. The unilateral power of any party isn't conducive to cooperation.