The Role of Social Cohesion in Shaping Welfare Policy Process and Its Outcome

4th International Conference on Social Sciences in the Modern Era

Year: 2026

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The Role of Social Cohesion in Shaping Welfare Policy Process and Its Outcome

Jiwon Kim

ABSTRACT:

This study investigates how social cohesion shapes welfare policy processes and outcomes across OECD countries. While prior research has focused primarily on institutional, economic, and partisan factors in welfare state development, the role of social cohesion has received comparatively little empirical attention. Conceptualized as a relational capacity between state and society, social cohesion is operationalized through government trust—which reflects institutional legitimacy and policy acceptance—and civic engagement, indicating participatory inclusiveness and democratic input. Emphasizing the reciprocal nature of the state–society relationship, the study develops a typology capturing cross-national variations in cohesion and examines their influence on policy design and implementation. Using dynamic panel analysis with system GMM estimation on data from 30 OECD countries (2000–2020), the study analyzes how different social cohesion types correspond to distinct welfare policy instrument mixes and assesses their implications for key outcomes such as fiscal sustainability and equity. Findings suggest that higher levels of government trust and civic engagement are associated with more responsive and balanced policy design, as well as more inclusive decision-making throughout the policy process. By incorporating social cohesion into welfare policy analysis, this study highlights the institutional and relational dynamics that support the resilience and reform capacity of welfare states.

Keywords: civic engagement; dynamic panel analysis; government trust; social cohesion; welfare policy