Welfare State Classification: The Development of Central Eastern European Welfare
Central Eastern European welfare states
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| 3. Central Eastern European welfare states 3.1 Introduction Eastern and Central European countries have witnessed the most epochal political and economic changes of all countries. After the collapse of communism in 1989 a very rapid transition to a market economy was compounded by economic liberalization and the elimination of subsidies and price controls (Hemerijck & Ferrera 2009). In line with the transition towards a liberalized market economy, the welfare states of the Central and Eastern European were reformed. Policy makers were mostly shocked by high unemployment rates, which were caused by the market economy. Hence, the hidden unemployment which was common during the communist regime could no longer be maintained in a market economy; this phenomenon led to a substantial rise of unemployment figures (Hemerijk & Ferrera 2009; Cerami 2006). Again, welfare states needed to be reformed and adapted to the new economic situation. At the same time, due to the communist heritage, people in the CEE welfare states were expecting the government to secure employment and provide social transfers and services (Haggard and Kaufmann 2008 in Hemerijck & Ferrera 2009). According to Hemerijck and Ferrera (2009), the CEE governments attached a high priority to the maintenance of universal, Beveridgean, policy legacies and social safety nets which were concerned with those displaced by the economic reforms (Hemerijck & Ferrera 2009: 32). Hemerijck and Ferrara also state that clearly the communist norm of income equality was prevailed. The restructuring on welfare institutions accompanied the emerge of new and serious societal problems. As said before, unemployment had risen significantly as well as the social problems which were caused by this phenomenon. Questions which rapidly needed to be addressed included what kind of social security system needed to be developed and according to what principles will the new society be based. These questions were practical and urgent. Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia agreed in 1991 in the city of Vizégrad in Hungary on a “Declaration of Cooperation on the Road to European Integration”. This agreement represented the first attempt to establish a platform to discuss the countries’ future in Europe (Cerami 2006: 3). This research will, as said in the introduction, focus on both Poland and Slovakia. The development of the welfare states of the Vizégrad countries thus is relevant to this research. This chapter will consist of an brief overview of the communist welfare states, and review of the three sequences of welfare reform which are distinguished by Cerami (2006). Download 374.54 Kb. Share with your friends:
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