Are targeting and universalism complementary or competing paradigms in social policy?

The article deals with the prevailing paradigms of social policy. Drawing on the distinction between universalist (rights-based) and targeted (poverty-centred) social welfare policies, the authors examine the welfare regimes and recent policy innovations in Brazil, South Africa and India, namely conditional cash transfers, food transfer schemes and employment programmes. In order to reassess the relationship between targeting and universalism, they analyse the historical and contemporary dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. Their conclusion is that the two paradigms are not mutually exclusive. They propose to base the combat against poverty and inequality in emerging economies with persistent poverty and inequality on "targeted universalism", thus avoiding the pitfalls of the dominant approaches.