The Politics of Reforms in Bismarckian Welfare Systems: The Cases of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia

Cerami, Alfio (2006): The Politics of Reforms in Bismarckian Welfare Systems: The Cases of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Published in: Conference Paper presented at the conference “A long good bye to Bismarck? The politics of welfare reforms in Continental Europe”At: Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies Harvard University Cambridge, Massachussets June 16 - 17, 2006. No. Published in Bruno Palier (ed.), A Long-Good Bye to Bismarck? The Politics of Reforms in Continental Europe, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 233

Abstract

This paper briefly explores the social policy developments in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia since the first establishment of Bismarck institutions in the period antecedent to the end of World War II. In particular, it asks how and to what extent Bismarck institutions survived, adapted and evolved during the communist and post-communist social policy re-organization, as well as asking what is the new internal structure of these welfare states in transition. The main argument is that the four Vizégrad countries have built their contemporary welfare state on the ruins and with the ruins of the welfare state they had previously introduced, and that these welfare states are facing a process of internal restructuring that leads to a hybridization of the system. The paper also identifies four main welfare reform trajectories occurring since World War II. These correspond to: the golden age, the era of forced expansion, the era of retrenchment’s attempts and the era beyond retrenchment.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Cold War; Central and Eastern Europe; Social Policy
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty; N - Economic History > N4 - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O57 - Comparative Studies of Countries; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems > P16 - Political Economy; P - Economic Systems > P2 - Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies; P - Economic Systems > P3 - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions > P36 - Consumer Economics ; Health ; Education and Training ; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty; P - Economic Systems > P5 - Comparative Economic Systems > P51 - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems

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