Towards a European social model: preconditions, difficulties and prospects of a European social policy

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Blanke ◽  
Jurgen Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Model ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
European Social Policy

The European Social Policy Model: Progress since the Early 1980s

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis G. Castles
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Statistical Technique ◽  
Social Model ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Social Expenditure ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
Northern European ◽  
European Social Policy ◽  
The Eu

This article uses a simple statistical technique to examine whether there is a distinct European social policy model and whether such a model has consolidated during the 1980s and 1990s. In terms of total social expenditure and its major aggregates, it shows that Europe as a whole, and the countries presently constituting the EU, are somewhat more similar to each other than are the countries constituting a wider OECD grouping, but that this similarity is probably insufficient to warrant the label of European social policy model. In respect of individual programmes like pensions, health and unemployment benefits differences between Europe and the wider OECD are even less distinct. Over time, there is a general tendency for there to be greater coherence in total spending levels and in levels of expenditure on poverty alleviation and health care, but less coherence in respect of levels of social security spending. While the evidence for any kind of encompassing European social model is weak, the article does identify a Northern European grouping of countries, which, in several respects, manifests an expenditure profile quite distinct from OECD nations in general.

The European social model – between crisis and system’s adaptability

2016 ◽  
pp. 28-53
Author(s):  
Jadwiga Nadolska
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Job Market ◽  
European Continent ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
European Social Policy ◽  
Research Goal ◽  
The Eu

The Author of the article sets as a research goal the diagnosis of the role of the ideological factor and objective structural conditions in the evolution of regulated capitalism on the European continent. In the text the European social model was characterized, the influence of globalisation on the regulated European capitalism was analyzed, the challenges of demography which are posed for the social structures, the job market and social security in Europe were discussed. The Author analysed the changes happening on the European job market since the 1980s in the field of institutional solutions, position of the employee, policy tools for the job market. The convergence and divergence dynamic in the development of the European social policy and the role of the EU institutions in managing the problems of modern Europe were analysed. Finally the influence of the Eurozone’s economic crisis on the EU social policy was diagnosed. In order to operationalise the research, historical and comparative methods will be used as well as institutional analysis and social index analysis.

scholarly journals Social protections in Slovak Republic in the first decade of the 21st century

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-63
Author(s):  
Zuzana Macková
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Slovak Republic ◽  
Social Model ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Actual Content ◽  
Major Reform

The article is a critical analysis of neoliberal approach to system of social protection in Slovakia, especially after the year of 2004, when a major reform of the Social Security Law and social policy took place. The focus is on specific sub-systems of the social protection – i.e. the system of social insurance, the system of state support and the system of social assistance – in the light of the constitutional and fundamental principles of law (liberty, equality, justice and solidarity), the actual content of the abovementioned systems of social protection and values and principles of the European social model of welfare state – and leads to author’s overview of major flaws and spaces for improvement.

scholarly journals Turkey, the EU and Social Policy

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Manning
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Model ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Welfare Institutions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

This paper considers what we might expect to be the effect on social policy of Turkish accession to the EU by reviewing the impact of EU membership on social policy in other new member and candidate countries. This effect begins long before membership is finalised, and continues long after membership has been achieved. The patterns of impact can be divided along a number of dimensions: between ‘accession’ and ‘enlargement’; state and civil society; centre and periphery; formal and substantive; and different welfare institutions. In the course of reviewing these variations, the paper reflects upon the nature of social policy itself, and in particular the nature of the European Social Model.

Monetary union and the stakes for democracy and social policy

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Pochet ◽  
Christophe Degryse
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Monetary Union ◽  
Shock Absorber ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Political Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
European Governance

The democratic and social aspects of the new European governance are not really separable. In the 1970s monetary union was seen as the successful culmination of political and social integration; subsequently, it was regarded as the trigger for such integration. Finally, the Maastricht Treaty opted for monetary union in the absence of political union, on a basis of rule-based governance for the public finances and with social policy playing the role of shock absorber. Since 2008 the crises in the euro area have shown that this route does not lead to increased convergence and their result has been to exacerbate the dismantling of social models. Today the question of political integration has come once again to the surface, albeit accompanied so far by scant democratic debate. The authors of this contribution consider that EMU will never be stable in the absence of real debate on the varying options and of a strengthening of the European social model.

scholarly journals The EU: Big on Big Things and Smaller on Smaller Things

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Bilge Filiz
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
European Social Policy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Welfare regime is composed of the social and economic policies that are adopted to protect and promote the economic and social well-being of its citizens. While neoliberal principles extend through globalization, welfare regimes have been suffering from this process since policies are developed with the emphasis on individual empowerment rather than collectively shared welfare. While spending a great deal of efforts not to lose its competitiveness, the European Union tries to create an alternative for the structure of its social policies. However, this attempt remains highly vulnerable due to the impact of capitalist economic system on development of EU social policy/model since the beginning of the EU integration process. This article analyzes the roots of underdeveloped social policy in EU history at three stages: explanation of underdevelopment of social Europe from several theoretical paradigms; examination of deep-rooted problems of European social policy within the dynamics of European integration; elaboration of EU modernization process; and clarification of this deficiency with the example of European Social Model deemed as a politically constructed project.

THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL MODEL AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION – ORIGINS AND TRANSFORMATIONS

2020 ◽  
Vol 550 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Scholz
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Paradigm Change ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
International Labour Organisation ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
Competition State ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The 1960S

The paper describes the cooperation between the International Labour Organisation and the new post- WWII European institutions – mainly Council of Europe and European Economic Community – in the fi eld of social security. At the centre of interest are ILO Convention 102 (1952) and the ILO’s “Ohlin report” (1956) and how they have co-shaped the evolution of the “European Social Model” in the long run. In its second part, the paper nests these developments into the paradigm change, that took place in the 1970s, from Keynesian to neo-liberal policies. While taking due account of ILO–EU divergence in social policy, which began in the 1960s, it describes in broad strokes the later impacts of the paradigm change on social policy formulation in the (new) “competition state”, in which welfare (“the ESM”) was no longer the goal but became a means to strengthen economic performance.

scholarly journals Lithuanian Social Policy in the European Social Model Map

2014 ◽  
Vol 156 ◽  
pp. 203-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aistė Palevičienė ◽  
Žaneta Simanavičienė ◽  
Daiva Dumčiuvienė
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Model ◽  
European Social Model

‘Frozen Landscapes’ Revisited: Path Creation in the European Social Model

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Lessenich
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Path Dependence ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Short Account ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
Path Creation ◽  
European Welfare State ◽  
European Social Policy

The institutional paralysis of Continental European social policy has become common wisdom in comparative welfare state research. The article seeks to challenge the all too simplistic picture of an inherently immovable and inflexible ‘conservative’ world of welfare capitalism. In confronting ‘path dependence’ theory with the concept of ‘path creation’, it is argued that there are – typically inconspicuous or even hidden – paths out of ‘path dependence’ precisely in those welfare states that most obviously embody the institutional heritage of what may be called the ‘European Social Model’. The fundamental ambivalence of Continental European welfare state institutions opens a permanent window of opportunity for ‘institutional entrepreneurs’ pursuing welfare state change. A short account of the recent transformation of social insurance institutions in Germany is presented as a first illustration of this thesis.

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