本所劉秋婉副教授與英國雪菲爾大學Christina Maags副教授擔任International Journal of Social Welfare期刊之特刊客座編輯，特刊主題為 Digital Transformation and Social Welfare in East Asia: Reconfiguring Capacity, Practice, and Vulnerability，徵稿期間自即日起至2027年7月16日，敬邀對徵稿主題有興趣的學者踴躍投稿。
Dr. Chiu-Wan Liu of our institute and Dr. Christina Maags, Senior Lecturer of the University of Sheffield, are serving as guest editors for a special issue of the International Journal of Social Welfare, entitled 'Digital Transformation and Social Welfare in East Asia: Reconfiguring Capacity, Practice, and Vulnerability.'Submissions are now open and will be accepted until July 16, 2027. Scholars whose research interests align with the theme of this special issue are warmly invited and encouraged to submit their manuscripts.本所劉秋婉副教授與英國雪菲爾大學Christina Maags副教授擔任International Journal of Social Welfare期刊之特刊客座編輯，特刊主題為
Digital Transformation and Social Welfare in East Asia: Reconfiguring Capacity, Practice, and Vulnerability，徵稿期間自即日起至2027年7月16日，敬邀對徵稿主題有興趣的學者踴躍投稿。
Dr. Chiu-Wan Liu of our institute and Dr. Christina Maags, Senior Lecturer of the University of Sheffield, are serving as guest editors for a special issue of the International Journal of Social Welfare, entitled 'Digital Transformation and Social Welfare in East Asia: Reconfiguring Capacity, Practice, and Vulnerability.'Submissions are now open and will be accepted until July 16, 2027. Scholars whose research interests align with the theme of this special issue are warmly invited and encouraged to submit their manuscripts.
Guest Editor: Dr. Christina Maags, Senior Lecturer in China Studies, the University of Sheffield.
Co-Guest Editor: Dr. Chiu-Wan Liu, Associate Professor of Graduate Institute of National Development, National Taiwan University.
Call for Papers
Digital Transformation and Social Welfare in East Asia: Reconfiguring Capacity, Practice, and Vulnerability
Submission deadline: Friday, 16 July 2027
The digital era presents both unprecedented challenges and opportunities for state capacity in providing social welfare. Whereas digital technologies have the potential of enhancing bureaucratic capacity by making administrative processes more efficient, they may also “hollow out” welfare state capacity as they replace human discretion with “techno-bureaucratic regimes” (Zenkl, 2025). While these developments are occurring worldwide, East Asia is a pertinent case to examine since these trends take on different forms. East Asian is home to some of the most digitalised societies worldwide, pioneering in developing digital public infrastructure, identity systems, services (Schneider and Goto-Jones, 2014) and AI governance (Huang et al., 2026). Moreover, historically, East Asia is historically known for its productivist welfare regimes which restrict welfare support to fields that support economic growth (Holliday, 2000). Therefore, digitalization is seen as a way for developmental states to intervene in society and the economy at a time of demographic ageing and labour scarcity (Oxford Analytica, 2024). East Asian welfare states therefore face a critical juncture where traditional administrative, fiscal, and regulatory state capacities must be fundamentally reconfigured to handle new social risks and the rise of new technologies.
While digitalisation is a “hot topic”, existing research remains Euro-centric, often focusing on Western “digital welfare states” (Busemeyer et al., 2022; Urbaniec, 2023). Existing studies have shown that platform economies often operate on a global scale, creating new employment relationships and categories, which reduces welfare state’s fiscal and regulatory capacity to provide welfare (Eichhorst and Rinne, 2018). Digital economies also showcase the state’s limitations in administrative capacity as bureaucracies lack digital expertise and rely on private companies to provide the digital infrastructure needed to operate (Collington, 2022). Ultimately, the rise of the digital welfare state has created new social risks and vulnerable groups which need further investigation (Larasati et al., 2023). Similarly, recent studies in Social Work are increasingly focusing on topics related to digitalisation (e.g. articles on digital sexual violence or e-parenting literacy), and how this digitalisation (and AI) are impacting social work research or day-to-day social work itself. What is less explored is the interplay between state’s capacity in dealing with digitalisation and the impact this has on individual welfare experiences and attitudes, particularly in non-Western contexts.
The Special Issue can contribute to this literature by tracing how digitalisation-induced transformations take shape and impact East Asian welfare states, social welfare delivery and individual experience in specific ways. It brings together studies from across the East Asian region, which use diverse disciplinary lenses from fields such as Social Work, Political Science and Social Policy, to provides an interdisciplinary and comparative account of how East Asian citizens, and their welfare states are experiencing and responding to the welfare transformation in the digital age. While it examines how digitalisation and the rise of AI has (or has the potential to) transform the welfare state, it also asks how the rise of the platform economy reduces or reshapes welfare state capacity to deliver welfare, leading to distinctive welfare outcomes. Contributions to the issue also investigate dynamics lying at the intersection of digital, welfare state and economic transformations. By bringing studies together, the Special Issue sheds light on the paradox of state capacity in which increased administrative efficiency coexists with regulatory lag in adapting to the platform economy. In addition, by applying the concept of state capacity throughout the issue, the contributions make theoretical contributions to the field.
Topics include but are not limited to:
- Reconfiguration of administrative, fiscal, and regulatory state capacities in response to rapid digitalization and platformization across East Asian welfare regimes
- Use of digital and AI tool in decision-making of frontline social workers, public administration and social service delivery
- Platform and gig economy, non-standard employment, and emerging forms of welfare insecurity and social insurance exclusion
- Reconfiguration of welfare responsibilities across diverse actors such as state, private tech companies, market actors, charities and individuals
- Digital barriers (digital divide, literacy and connectivity issues) affecting access to services, in particular among marginalized/vulnerable groups
- Public perceptions, trust, expectations, and attitudes towards the use of AI in social policy and welfare state interventions
Guest Editors:
Dr. Christina Maags,
University of Sheffield,
United Kingdom
Dr. Chiu-Wan Liu,
National Taiwan University,
Taiwan
Keywords: Digital welfare state, state capacity, East Asia, AI, platform economy, new social risks
Submission Guidelines/Instructions
16 July 2027 is the final deadline for articles to be submitted for consideration for the Special Issue; earlier submissions will be reviewed and published on a rolling basis.
Please refer to the Author Guidelines to prepare your manuscript. When submitting your manuscript, please answer the question: "Is this submission for a special issue?" by selecting the special issue title from the drop-down list.
Weblink：https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/14682397/homepage/call-for-papers/si-2026-001187
