Central Europe in transition: emerging models of welfare and social assistance

Cerami, Alfio (2008): Central Europe in transition: emerging models of welfare and social assistance.

Abstract

This paper discusses the emergence of a new model of welfare and social assistance in Central and Eastern Europe. It starts by briefly summarizing the most recent social policy developments occurring in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia and continues investigating the most urgent reform challenges and adaptational strategies. As argued elsewhere (see Cerami 2006a), the main argument of the paper is that CEECs are moving towards a new world of welfare capitalism, which combines old with new social policy characteristics. A special emphasis in this paper is, however, given to the systems of social assistance, since these represent the last public policy instrument to prevent citizens to fall into extreme poverty. As it will be argued, social assistance schemes did not only play a crucial role in the process of democratic transition cushioning the negative effects of the economic transformation, but they also represent important sources of democratic engineering providing legitimacy to the newly established market-oriented order. A substantial reconsideration in the social policy logic behind their establishment is, however, urgently required.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe, social policy, welfare state, economies in transition, reform challenges, social assistance, welfare regimes
• Subjects: P - Economic Systems > P3 - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions > P30 - General; D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O10 - General; N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy > N30 - General, International, or Comparative; P - Economic Systems > P5 - Comparative Economic Systems > P51 - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D61 - Allocative Efficiency ; Cost-Benefit Analysis; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J18 - Public Policy; P - Economic Systems > P2 - Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies > P26 - Political Economy ; Property Rights

References

Bonoli, G. 2000, The Politics of Pension Reforms. Institutions and Policy Change in Western Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Cazes, S. & Nesporova, A. 2003, Labour Markets in Transition: Balancing Flexibility and Security in Central and Eastern Europe, ILO, Geneva.

Cerami, A., 2003, 'The Impact of Social Transfers in Central and Eastern Europe', LIS Working Paper no. 356, Luxembourg Income Study, Luxembourg. (Online), Available World Wide Web: URL: http://www.lisproject.org/publications/liswps/356.pdf

Cerami, A. 2006a, Social Policy in Central and Eastern Europe. The Emergence of a New European Welfare Regime, LIT Verlag: Berlin.

Cerami, A. 2006b, 'Worlds of Socio-Economic Security in Western Europe: The Need for Bottom-Up Empowerment', background paper for the UNESCO report "A Human Security Report for Eastern/Western Europe", Centre for Peace and Human Security of Sciences Po/UNESCO UNESCO, Paris, June 8 - 9.

Cerami, A. 2008 fc., 'The Politics of Reforms in Bismarckian Welfare Systems: The Cases of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia', in B. Palier (ed.), A Long-Good Bye to Bismarck? The Politics of Reforms in Continental Europe, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam.

Cerami, A. & Ettrich, F. (eds) 2008 fc., Welfare State Transformations and Adaptations in Central and Eastern Europe, VS Verlag, Wiesbaden.

Connor, W. 1997, 'Social Policy Under Communism', in E.B. Kapstein & M. Madelbaum, Sustaining the Transition: The Social Safety Net in Post-Communist Europe Council on Foreign Relations, New York, pp.10-45.

Crouch, C. 2005, Capitalist Diversity and Change. Recombinant Governance and Institutional Entrepreneurs, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Deacon, B. 2000, 'Eastern European welfare states: the impact of the politics of globalization', Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 10 no. 2, pp. 146-162.

Esping-Andersen, G. 1990, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Polity Press, Cambridge.

European Foundation for the Improvement of the Living Conditions 2006, EurLife, European Foundation for the Improvement of the Living Conditions, Dublin. (Online), Available World Wide Web: URL: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/

Eurostat 2008, Structural and Long-Term Indicators, Eurostat, Brussels (Online), Available World Wide Web: URL: http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int/

Eyal, G., Szelényi, I. & Townsley, E. 2003, 'Ironie als Methode. Ansätze und Fragestellung einer neoklassischen Soziologie', Berliner Journal für Soziologie, vol. 13, no.1, pp. 5-34.

Ferge, Z. 1978, 'Hungary', in S. B. Kamerman & A. J. Kahn (eds.), Family Policy; Government and Families in Fourteen Countries, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 68-90.

Ferge, Z. 1979, A Society in the Making. Hungarian Social and Societal Policy 1945-1975, M.E. Sharpe, Inc, New York.

Ferge, Z., Tausz, K. & Darves, A. 2002, Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion Volume 1: A Case Study of Hungary, ILO Subregional Office for Central and Eastern Europe, Budapest.

Ferrera, M. & Rhodes, M., 2000, 'Recasting European welfare states: an introduction', West European Politics, 23-2, pp.1-10.

Ferrera, M., Hemerijck, A. & Rhodes, M. (forthcoming), The Future of European Welfare States Recasting Welfare for a New Century, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Fultz, E., Ruck, M. & Steinhilber, S. (eds.) 2003, The Gender Dimensions of Social Security Reform in Central and Eastern Europe: Case Studies of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, ILO Subregional Office for Central and Eastern Europe, Budapest, pp. 13-42.

Hemerijck, A. (2006), 'Recalibrating Europe’s semi-sovereign welfare states', Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB) Working Paper no. SP I 2006-103, Berlin: WZB.

ILO 2000, World Labour Report 2000, Income Security and Social Protection in a Changing World, ILO, Geneva.

King, L. P. & Szelényi, I. 2004, Theories of the New Class. Intellectuals and Power, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis and London.

Lamping W. & Rϋb, F.W. 2004, 'From the conservative welfare state to an “uncertain else”: German pension politics in comparative perspective', Policy & Politics, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 169-192.

Lewis, J. 1992, 'Gender and the development of welfare regimes', Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 159-173.

Milanovic, B. 1995, 'Poverty, Inequality and Social Policy in Transition Economies' , World Bank Working Paper n. 1530, World Bank, Washington D.C.

MISSOC 2007, Social Protection in the Member States of the European Union, of the European Economic Area and in Switzerland, DG Employment and Social Affairs, Brussels.

Myles, J. & Pierson, P., 2001, 'The Comparative Political Economy of Pension Reform', in P. Pierson (ed.), The New Politics of the Welfare State, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 305-333.

Opielka, M. 2008. Gesellschaft für alle, Murmann Verlag, Hamburg.

Orenstein, M. A. 2005, 'The new pension reform as global policy', Global Social Policy, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 175-202.

Orenstein, M. A., Ringold, D. & Wilkens, E. 2003, Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle, World Bank, Washington D.C.

Orenstein, M. A. 2008 fc., “Transnational Actors in Central and East European Pension Reforms”, in Cerami, A. & Ettrich, F. (eds), Welfare State Transformations and Adaptations in Central and Eastern Europe, Wiesbaden, VS Verlag.

Orloff, A. S. 2006, 'From Maternalism to “Employment for All”: State Policies to Promote Women’s Employment across the Affluent Democracies', in J. Levy (ed.), The State After Statism, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, pp.230-268

Palier, B., 2000, '"Defrosting" the French welfare state', West European Politics, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 113-136.

Palier, B. (ed.) (2008 fc.), A Long-Good Bye to Bismarck? The Politics of Reforms in Continental Europe, Amsterdam University Press/Amsterdam.

Pascall, G. & Kwak, A. 2005, Gender Regimes in Transition in Central and Eastern Europe, Policy Press, Bristol.

Pierson, P. (ed.) 2001, The New Politics of the Welfare State, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Schmitter, P. 2000. How to Democratize the European and Why Bother, Roman & Littlefield, London.

Schnepf, S.V. 2004, 'The feminisation of poverty in transition countries: evidence from subjective data', paper presented at the second ESPAnet (Network for European Social Policy Analysis) annual conference European Social Policy: Meeting the Needs of a New Europe, Oxford, 9-11 September 2004.

Sokolowska, M. 1978, 'Poland', in S.B. Kamerman & A. J. Kahn (eds.), Family Policy; Government and Families in Fourteen Countries, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 239-269.

Stanovnik, T. & Stropnik, N. 2002, Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion Volume 2: A Case Study of Slovenia, ILO Subregional Office for Central and Eastern Europe, Budapest.

Stark, D. & Bruszt, L. 1998, Postsocialist Pathways. Transforming Politics and Property in East Central Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stark, D. 1992, 'Path dependence and privatization strategies in East Central Europe ', East European Politics and Societies, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 17-54.

Stark, D. 1996, 'Recombinant property in East European capitalism', American Journal of Sociology, 101, 4, pp. 993-1027.

Szelényi, I. (ed.) 2002, Poverty, Ethnicity, and Gender in Transitional Societies, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest.

UNECE 2004, Economic Survey of Europe 2004 no.1, UNECE, Geneva.

Unicef, 2006, TransMonee Database 2004, Unicef, Florence. Vaughan-Whitehead, D. 2005, 'The World of Work in the New EU Member States: Diversity and Convergence', in D. Vaughan-Whitehead (ed.), Working and Employment Conditions in the New EU Member States. Convergence or Diversity?, ILO and European Commission, Geneva, pp. 1-44.

Wagener, H. J. 2002, 'The welfare state in transition economies and accession to the EU ', West European Politics, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 152-174.

WHO 1999-2005, Health Care Systems in Transition. HIT Profiles: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, WHO Regional Office for Europe, Denmark.

World Bank 1994, Averting the Old Age Crisis. Policies Growth, Oxford University Press, Washington DC.

Zapf, W. 1998, 'Entwicklung und Sozialstruktur moderner Gesellschaften', in H. Körte & B. Schäfers (eds.), Einführung in die Hauptbegriffe der Soziologie, Westedeutscher Verlag, Opladen, pp. 181-193.

Zhelyazkova, A., Slay, B., Márczis, M., Vašecka, M., OHiggins, N., Cace, S. & Sirovatka, T. 2002, The Roma in Central and Eastern Europe. Avoiding the Dependency Trap, UNDP United Nations Development Programme Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Bratislava.