Abstract
The contemporary emphasis on philanthropic action represents a significant shift in the locus of responsibility for human well-being. Once regarded as the province of national governments, social policy is increasingly regarded as the legitimate enterprise of non-state philanthropic actors. We contend that global governance has created space for the emergence of philanthropic governors who make social policy through the accumulation and discretionary redistribution of wealth, thus depoliticizing discourse about global governance by reducing the visibility of the market and its negative impact on human well-being. First, we demonstrate how philanthropy and social policy are related as the politics of well-being. Second, we explore how philanthropic governing capacity as the redistribution of wealth becomes depoliticized and subsequently ends vital discourse about the relationship between the market and well-being. Finally, we conclude that philanthropic governing capacity raises serious questions about who is responsible for human well-being in an era of global governance.
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Notes
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Although there has been much discussion of the impacts of governance on democracy and social equity (see, for example, Boyte 2005; O’Toole 1997; O’Toole and Meier 2004; Sørensen and Torfing 2003; Wälti et al. 2004), the issues that result in the need for social policy in governance are almost entirely neglected, preventing large-scale critique of their impact on the everyday lives of citizens.
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Critical theorists of the state understand that while social policy may appear to function according to the rules of pluralism, in reality this often is not so. Our focus in this chapter, however, is on the appearance of philanthropy.
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Nickel, P.M., Eikenberry, A.M. (2010). Philanthropy in an Era of Global Governance. In: Taylor, R. (eds) Third Sector Research. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5707-8_19
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