The Global Circulation of American Humanitarian Aid and Welfare Ideolgies after World War II

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K12534
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 03040:History of Europe and America-related
• Research Institution: Kanto Gakuin University (2019-2022); Hitotsubashi University (2018)
• Principal Investigator: Kotaki Yo 関東学院大学, 国際文化学部, 准教授 (00801185)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: リハビリテーション / ワークフェア / 第二次世界大戦 / 朝鮮戦争 / キューバ難民 / ベトナム戦争 / 福祉思想 / 国際史

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examined the post-World War II international exchange of welfare ideas, focusing on how experts from America and Allied countries developed vocational rehabilitation programs for war victims in Europe and Korea, welfare education in Pakistan, resettlement policies for Cuban refugees, and aids for war refugees in South Vietnam. Through these exchanges, an international chain of welfare ideas emerged.
Furthermore, this study shed light on the development of gender ideology within this international chain of events. It reveals that the public assistance programs implemented for refugees in the U.S. and South Vietnam, as well as policies to encourage women to work, served as a prototype for the U.S. workfare policy. This policy, which targeted recipients of public assistance for mothers and children, reflects the changing gender dynamics of welfare programs and highlights the importance of understanding how welfare ideas are shaped and transformed through global exchange.

Free Research Field

アメリカ現代史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の意義は大きく分けて2点あり、1つは第二次世界大戦後の各国における福祉政策が、戦争と冷戦のような国際政治上の対立と深くかかわりながら展開したことを示したことである。また、そうした福祉の展開が専門家による国際交流の中で形成されたことを指摘し、しばしば一国内に閉じた問題として理解されがちな福祉政策について、より広域的な視点から考察する方法を示したことが、本研究の第2の意義である。