Welfare State Development in Central and Eastern Europe: A State of the Art Literature Review

Abstract: "The welfare states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have undergone massive changes since the beginning of the 1990s. This paper reviews the literature on welfare state development in CEE in light of the theories that have been used to study advanced capitalist democracies. Its purpose is to critically assess the extent to which different theories can explain changes in the welfare state during and after transition. It argues that until now two strands of literature have crystallised: institutionalism and actor-centred explanations. Institutionalists agree that welfare reforms are limited by the path dependence of the national welfare state structures though this framework is biased towards explaining stability. Recent literature seeks to overcome this bias by adding variables that traditionally belong to the actor-centred paradigm. This essay will argue that the gains from such an approach are exceeded by losses in the accuracy and parsimony of explanations. Further, in the act

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; In: Studies of Transition States and Societies ; 4 (2012) 2 ; 59-70

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Soziale Probleme, Sozialdienste, Versicherungen

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Mannheim
• (when): 2012
• Creator: Adascalitei, Dragos

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-362686
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:38 AM CEST