Old welfare state theories and new welfare regimes in Eastern Europe: Challenges and implications

This paper reviews some theoretical and empirical literature written on welfare state development in post-communist Eastern Europe in the light of the theories and approaches that have been developed to study affluent capitalist democracies. The aim of this discussion is to critically reassess the o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communist and post-communist studies 2009-03, Vol.42 (1), p.23-39
Main Author: Aidukaite, Jolanta
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capitalism
Communism
Democracy
Democratization
Eastern Europe
European Union
Political regimes
Political theory
Post-communism
Post-communist societies
Postcommunist Societies
Public welfare
Social Policy
Welfare State
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper reviews some theoretical and empirical literature written on welfare state development in post-communist Eastern Europe in the light of the theories and approaches that have been developed to study affluent capitalist democracies. The aim of this discussion is to critically reassess the old welfare state theories, definitions and approaches and their implications regarding the study of post-communist Eastern Europe. The paper ends with the conclusion that the exclusion of ‘communist’ countries for more than twenty years from welfare state theorising has created an empirical and theoretical gap. This creates fresh challenges for welfare state research and calls for a new paradigm. It is evident that the not so well explored Eastern European region with regards to social policy research suggests that it is necessary not only to test already existing welfare state theories, definitions, typologies and approaches on these countries, but also to advance them.
ISSN:0967-067X
1873-6920
1873-6920
DOI:10.1016/j.postcomstud.2009.02.004