Amid growing concerns over the potential impact of population aging, ongoing globalization and rising income inequality, Canadian thinkers and policy leaders are once again actively debating the future of social policy. In the latest IRPP Policy Horizons Essay, social policy expert Peter Hicks argues that the conventional wisdom on how these forces will play out over the coming decade, and the solutions they require, is to a large extent misguided.

While it is well understood that the welfare state is under stress, there is little recognition that changing demographics, technology and public expectations are combining to push us in a completely new direction. Having spent his entire career as a practitioner in the field, Hicks makes the case that we are now entering a period of transformation that will touch all dimensions of social policy, from the design of programs and services to the way they are delivered and managed. As a result, a new model for social policy will be taking shape over the coming decade: the “enabling society.”