Social policy and welfare regimes typologies: Any relevance to South Africa?

This paper revisits Esping-Andersen’s welfare regimes typology and applies it to the South African context. To argue its case, it refers to and uses the construct of colonialism of a special type. The paper notes that unlike other African countries, Esping-Andersen’s framework resonates with South Africa’s social policy and welfare regime because of its unique history that partly stems from colonialism of a special type. It argues that social policy in present-day South Africa continues to reproduce colonial and apartheid socio-economic outcomes due to path dependency. The paper asserts that path dependency has largely been shaped by colonialism of a special type. The discussion then concludes that South Africa straddles the liberal and social democratic welfare state regimes and classifies it as a hybrid welfare regime.