Abstract
28th May 1944 – 1st October 2017
Supporters, readers and friends of Critical Social Policy will have been saddened to hear of the untimely death of Professor Bob Deacon in October 2017. For many people Bob is best known for his work on communist and post-communist social policy, his development of internationalism and his analysis of global social policy. But back in 1979 Bob was one of the prime movers and founders of this journal. In July 1979 Bob and other veterans of UK social work struggles, who were dissatisfied with the lack of opportunity for airing socialist and radical perspectives in the Journal of Social Policy, invited a group of left social policy teachers and activists to join in the project to establish a ‘journal of socialist theory and practice in social welfare’. Critical Social Policy was born as a result. The first issue was published in the summer of 1981 and included an article by Bob entitled, ‘Social Policy, Social Administration and Socialism’. In this article Bob thought through what a socialist welfare system would look like in practice. This typified Bob’s practical approach to questions of alternative political formations nationally and internationally – he was an engaged academic and an activist throughout his life.
With the launch of CSP Bob immediately become ‘Articles Editor’ and was a major force in the early development of the journal. Although Bob moved on to other political challenges in the mid-1980s he remained a great friend and supporter of the journal. In 1988 Bob helped organise the conference, ‘Social Policy and Socialism’ at Leeds Polytechnic in association with CSP. At this time Bob was increasingly engaged with the political and policy implications of the breakdown of the communist regimes and was at the heart of passionate debates and practical discussions about post-communist social policy in ‘Eastern’ Europe.
Then for three decades from the mid-1990s onwards Bob devoted most of his energy to critical analysis of the policies and impact of the global international organisations (IOs) from the World Bank and the IMF to more progressive IOs such as the International Labour Organisation. He exposed the regressive influence of the neoliberal hegemony behind the Washington Consensus and Structural Adjustment policies, which did so much socioeconomic damage to low-income countries. He was fiercely engaged in debates within the global international organisations, wherever and whenever he could. He contributed to the shift away from Structural Adjustment which emerged in the 2000s and to the rebirth of notions of social investment as essential to achieving more sustainable, stable economies and improved human development. Controversially for some, he argued wisely that successful social policy in developing societies has to be inclusive, addressing the needs of teachers, healthcare workers, tax collectors and so on, as well as the very poorest people, in order to strengthen the social solidarity essential to underpin progressive social policies.
In all that he did Bob always advanced democratic and inclusive politics that challenged power in all its guises. As Isabel Ortiz, Director of Social Programmes at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, recently wrote in tribute, “Bob was a giant of social policy - without him, the world is a lonelier and emptier place. He influenced many debates (in) academia, the UN, ILO and UNICEF as well as in transition economies and developing countries … Bob died with his boots on”. He had so many friends and supporters world-wide and CSP is proud to be among them.