Social Well-Being: A Comparative Perspective

The relations between social policies, social exclusion, and social well-being in the Southeast Asia focusing on the case study of Papua, Indonesia is the main topic of this paper. The data discusses objective and subjective well-being. Both indicators can reflect the social well-being conditions of the region, and indicate the scale of social exclusion in the society of the studied area. West Papua is located in the Eastern Indonesia, and selection of this province as a case study is based on the consideration that welfare of the Eastern Indonesians can illustrate disparities in Indonesia overall. The data presented on West Papua province demonstrates the interrelationship between social policy, social exclusion, and social well-being taking place in this community.

Social and economic policies in this context include two levels – that of the National Government and of the Provincial Government. The presented ase study provides insights on Eastern Indonesia, which is experiencing more disparities as compared to other parts of Indonesia, while the discussion on the case study is linked to a more general context – that of other Southeast Asian countries.