Welfare State Classification: The Development of Central Eastern European Welfare
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| 5.6 Conclusions This chapter has discussed the development of the Polish welfare state after the collapse of the communist regime; four aspects of the welfare state have been analyzed firmly. The search for a new welfare doctrine which could cope with the new market-oriented economy has not gone very smoothly. Due to various, mostly political and economic, circumstances many radical reforms did not take place until the end of the 1990s. Looking at family benefits, one can observe inconsequent policies which have changed numerous times the last decade. Of course, this can also be explained by the ideology of the ruling political parties and the economic and demographic circumstances. However, looking at the major, radical reforms in Poland, one must conclude that much effort needed to be put in the decision-making process and thus that radical reforms did not take place until the late 1990s and the beginning of the new millennium. When looking at the four aspects of the welfare state which have been analyzed, one can see a development towards a hybrid system which combines elements of both welfare systems and all welfare types. The labour-market and unemployment policies have developed from universal towards Bimarckian policies, which tend to protect workers and stimulate unemployed to find a job. The pension system of Poland, which has been reformed radically at the end of the 1990s, can be defined as a Bismarckian pension scheme. The new three-pillar pension scheme is work-related; the first two pillars are mandatory, while the third is voluntary. Preceding the first radical reform of the health-care system much debate has taken place. The health-care system has liberalized, which leans of course towards the liberal welfare type as described by Esping-Andersen. However, the aim of the reform was to provide universal health-care which was decentralized and thus organized effectively and efficiently. Again, elements of two welfare types are combined in an aspect of the welfare state in Poland. Finally, many reforms concerning family benefits have taken place throughout the period 1995-2005. As said above, policy concerning family benefits can be considered to be inconsequent. Looking at the changes of family policy, one can distinguish some interesting developments concerning the welfare state. First of all, after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the benefits became universal, in order to coop with high unemployment figures and social problems caused by these figures. After that, many reforms took place which resulted in means-tested income based family benefits. This was mainly the caused by the rising costs of the welfare state. Looking at maternity leave specifically, due to demographic developments the period of maternity leave was extended and universal. However, due to a cut in government expenditures the length of the maternity leave period was reduced by the socialist government in 2002. Again, when analyzing the development of certain aspects of the Polish welfare state, one can see development which lead to a hybrid organization which combines elements of all welfare types. Also, one can conclude that throughout the period after the collapse of the communist regime, the direction of the welfare states has changed numerous times. In other words, some policies have changed from Bismarckian to universalistic, and a couple of years later back to Bismarckian. A relevant topic for this research has not yet been addressed firmly, namely the influence of international organizations and institutions on the reforms which have taken place throughout the period 1995-2005. The new, three-pillar, pension scheme, is the result of the expansion of the European Union. To become a member of the European Union, Poland needed a stable and sustainable pension system, which included both a funded and a pay-as-you-go element. The health- care sector was reformed with the help of World Bank officials and experts, who were working on a loan to restructure the health-care system of Poland. In other words, the privatization of the health- care system in order to reduce the influence of the state in providing health-care services was proposed and financed by the World Bank. The reforms of unemployment and labour market policy was, according to the literature, not influenced by international organization, although the reduction 33 of government expenditures and welfare state retrenchment can be seen as a worldwide trend. Reforms of family benefits mostly have been influenced by the political circumstances in Poland. The ruling party and its ideology mostly determine the policy concerning family benefits in general and maternity leave more specifically. All in all, one can conclude that a hybrid welfare state has been developed, which combines elements of all welfare typologies. The direction of the welfare state is hard to predict, mainly because economic, demographic and political circumstances play an important role on the development of the welfare state. The concluding chapter will consist of a more firm interpretation of the analysis of the developments of the Polish welfare state. 34 |