Diversity and Commonality in European Social Politics: The Forging of a European Social Model

New book edited by STANISLAWA GOLINOWSKA, PETER HENGSTENBERG and MACIEJ ZUKOWSKI

The full book can be downloaded here: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/warschau/06223.pdf

This collaborative study has the ambitious goal of providing a new interpretation and analysis of European social policy since the »Eastern« enlargement of the European Union in 2004 and 2007. It covers six countries, three of which – France, Germany, and Denmark – represent the older Western European democracies, while the other three are former communist states, namely Poland, Czech Republic, and Estonia.

The authors, all recognised experts in the field, conduct a comprehensive review of all aspects of the welfare state – social security, health care, education, public assistance programs, and related social services – in these countries. As a result, the book stands out from other publications of this type.

Also in contrast to other studies, which are usually much more narrowly focused thematically, it highlights demographic trends, poverty levels, patterns of inequality, and labor market policies. This crucial contextual information enables the reader to better understand the challenges and opportunities characterising various
social policy reforms undertaken in European countries in recent years.

There are several important reasons why this book might be regarded as a pioneering work, opening up a new type of discourse among scholars and experts specialising in the European welfare state. First and foremost, two of its editors are leading scholars from Poland, and it offers a fresh perspective on the European Social Model that is not restricted in geographical scope to the established Western democracies.

The country selection is especially noteworthy because it gives the reader a good insight into the diversity and complexity of contemporary welfare states in the wider, enlarged Europe. While Germany and France showcase the difficulties of reforming old and relatively generous Bismarckian welfare states, Poland stands out both as the largest postcommunist democracy and in terms of its efforts to sustain a similar institutional model but at a much lower level of economic development. It is struggling with significant challenges arising from unfinished health care reform, a huge pension burden, new types of structural poverty, and unemployment. The Czech Republic furnishes a relatively successful example of an egalitarian welfare state with residual social democratic traditions, now tempered by neoliberal reform pressures in a postcommunist context.

Finally, Denmark and Estonia represent contrasting cases of small European countries with many similar goals, especially in the development of modern and comprehensive family policies, but also with distinct historical legacies and vast differences in terms of economic resources and contemporary ideological preferences concerning the realization of these goals.

(excerpt of a book review published by Tomasz Inglot (Minnesota State University) in International Politics and Society)

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