Regionalising Global Social Policy in Times of Crisis

Focusing on the European Union (EU) and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) this article presents the manner in which regional organizations apply underlying tenets of global social policy (GSP). It notes the challenges regional entities face in doing so. It also argues that the application of GSP at the regional level is important given the nature of many socioeconomic challenges, the effects of which are often felt regionally. Included in the analysis are theoretical premises justifying social policy both at the global and regional levels. In a period of economic hardship with an everwidening inequality gap, there is pressure to roll back regional endeavours to manage social challenges. However it is exactly during such a period that robust regional measures need to be sustained or put in place to integrate global social policy, map out new social responses to problems, or implement existing regional social norms.