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

Alfio Cerami

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

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.

Keywords: Cold War; Central and Eastern Europe; Social Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H2 I3 N4 O57 P16 P2 P36 P51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-06-16
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/92335/1/MPRA_paper_92271.pdf revised version (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:92271

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