Post-conflict social policy encompasses the formulation and implementation of a wide range of social welfare programs, such as pensions, social assistance, disability payments, and unemployment support, as well as programs that provide other kinds of social support such as social care institutions, and social work agencies under the particular conditions that exist after the conclusion of a violent conflict. The idea of paying special attention to social policy in the post-conflict setting is a recent development, emerging at the end of the 1990s. Although the emphasis is on the local formulation and implementation of policy, the expansion of attention to post-conflict social policy is deeply integrated into issues of international intervention.
Fred Cocozzelli is Associate Professor in the Department of Government & Politics at St. John's University in Queens, New York.