Post-Communist Welfare Pathways: Theorizing Social Policy Transformations in Central and Eastern Europe

This collection adopts novel theoretical approaches to study the diverse welfare state pathways that have evolved across Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of communism in 1989. Going beyond existing path dependency and neo-institutionalist explanations, it highlights the role of explanatory factors such as micro-causal mechanisms, ideas, discourses, path departures, power politics, and elite strategies. This collection includes contributions from leading international experts to examine welfare in specific countries and across social policy domains. By providing a broad overview based on a theoretical foundation and drawing on recent empirical evidence, Post-Communist Welfare Pathways offers a comprehensive, state-of-the-art account of the progress that has been made since 1989, and the main challenges that lie ahead for welfare state regimes in Central and Eastern Europe.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Social Policy Pathways, Twenty Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall; A.Cerami & P.Vanhuysse PART I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Social Policy in East Central Europe: Major Trends in the 20th Century; D.Szikra& B.Tomka Mechanisms of Institutional Change in Central and Eastern European Welfare State; A.Cerami Power, Order and the Politics of Social Policy in Central and Eastern Europe; P.Vanhuysse PART II: COUNTRY STUDIES Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia: Adaptation and Reform of the Post-Communist Emergency Welfare States; T.Inglot The Transformation of Welfare Systems in the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; J.Aidukaite Welfare State Transformations in Bulgaria and Romania; A.Cerami & S.Stanescu PART III: SECTORAL ANALYSIS AND CHALLENGES Transnational Actors in Central and East European Pension Reforms; M.Orenstein Elder Care Systems: Policy Transfer and Europeanization; H.Theobald& K.Kern The Impact of Minimum Income Guarantee Schemes in Central and Eastern Europe; C.Rat Devolution of Social Protection Arrangements; N.van Mechelen& V.De Maerschalck The Impact of the EU Social Inclusion Strategy: the Czech Case; T.Sirovatka& M.Rakoczyova CONCLUSIONS: The Eastern European Welfare State in Comparative Perspective: S.Haggard & R.R.Kaufman Epilogue: Lessons Learnt and Open Questions; C.Offe

About the Author :
ALFIO CERAMI is Associate Researcher, Centre d'Aetudes Europeennes Sciences Po, Paris, France. He has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Erfurt, Germany, at Sciences Po Paris, France, and at the Centre for German and European Studies of the State University of St. Petersburg, Russia. He is the author of Social Policy in Central and Eastern Europe: The Emergence of a New European Welfare Regime. PIETER VANHUYSSE is Lecturer, University of Haifa, Israel, and Research Affiliate, European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna. His book Divide and Pacify: Strategic Social Policies and Political Protests in Post-Communist Democracies was nominated for the ASA Best Book Award in Political Sociology for 2006.

Review :
'In this conceptually-sophisticated, richly-informed volume, Cerami and Vanhuysse bring together an exceptional group of scholars to debate path dependence and institutional transformation in CEE welfare states. The authors' impressive analysis of causal factors, including political elites' strategic use of social policy, makes the book an original and important contribution to the comparative welfare state literature.' - Professor Linda J. Cook, Dept. of Political Science, Brown University, USA 'This edited volume is extraordinarily good. The editors are venturing new grounds in the study welfare state change, by deliberately going beyond the easy temptation of modelling new member welfare states after West European examples. The book provides the best overview to date of welfare state transformation in Central and Eastern Europe. It not only does so by bringing together the leading experts on the subject worldwide. The editors' theoretically well-informed and analytically illuminating and innovative approach to the study of welfare state (self-) transformation, which casts new light on the evolution of domestic and supranational social policy, will guarantee that this landmark book will be cited for many years to come. The comparative scope, historical depth, and timely position, should make the volume required reading for academics, students, and policy makers.' - Anton Hemerijck, Free University of Amsterdam 'An impressive book with a stellar line-up of authors that is theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich as it provides insights into the dynamics of change in Central and Eastern European countries since the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The book shows that there are no simple explanations of the transformation of CEECs' social policies, but that a wide range of factors elucidated by different analytic frameworks--in particular historical and discursive institutionalism--help explain countries' differing trajectories over time, including path-dependent or path-breaking policies, interest-based political coalitions that promote or oppose reform, and national or supranational ideas and discourse that frame those reform efforts.' - Vivien A. Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, Boston University