Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia: Adaptation and reform of the post-communist ‘emergency welfare states’

Abstract

The investigation of post-communist social policies has centred on two general topics: a possible emergence of a new type of welfare state regime in the former Soviet bloc and the search for the major determinants of social policy development and reform in the region. Many scholars have recommended the designation of a separate regime type to distinguish between Western and Eastern systems of welfare protection (Müller et al., 1999; Aidukaite, 2004; Cerami, 2006). Moreover, arguably institutionalism and the power resources approach have become the most popular explanatory frameworks of ‘transformational’ post-communist social policy. Their adherents stress the determining influence of institutional constraints, veto points and international financial organizations (Müller, 1999; Orenstein and Haas, 2005; Orenstein, this volume) or political factors, for example, the impact of political parties, ideologies, interest groups and bureaucratic stakeholders, on social policy development (Hasselmann, 2006; Vanhuysse, 2006a, and this volume; Cook, 2007b).