scholarly journals A SOCIAL STATE IN THE COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE AND IN UKRAINE: ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL FACTORS

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 149-155
Author(s):  
Alla Silenko ◽  
Vira Bezrodna ◽  
Lyudmyla Lyasota
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
National Income ◽  
The State ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
The Welfare State

The subject of the research is the economic and political factors of the welfare state in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and in Ukraine. Methodology. The work used a comparative approach, which made it possible to study the development of social states in Central and Eastern Europe, in Ukraine, to identify their similarities and differences. The institutional approach made it possible to consider the problem as a multidimensional socio-political phenomenon, to highlight functionally and systemically important elements and to study their mutual influence. Results. The purpose of the article is to analyze the prospects of the welfare state in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Ukraine, the influence of political and economic factors on its development. To achieve this goal, the following research tasks were set: to consider the issue of the influence of democracy on economic and social development; analyze the role of the state in socio-economic processes; to study the experience of socio-economic reforms in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which began their reforms almost simultaneously with Ukraine, and to find out why the success of their reforms is much higher than those achieved in Ukraine; clarify the reasons for the failure of reforms in Ukraine. It is shown that democracy does not affect economic growth; at the same time, democracy is the guardian of economic and social stability. It is substantiated that the welfare state provides citizens with protection that they will never receive from the state: the “night watchman”. As world experience has shown, the market does not guarantee the protection of the economy from crises and is not a panacea for eliminating the consequences. Sometimes, the market can even pose a threat to society, for example in the field of ecology. Thus, the actions of market forces and the interests of society do not always coincide. It is argued that the idea of a stable causal relationship between the reduction in the state’s participation in the redistribution of national income and an increase in economic growth is erroneous. Failures of economic and social reforms in Ukraine are explained by the fact that their liberal version was chosen, the consequences of which can be characterized as catastrophic. The low level of professionalism of reformers and corruption also played a negative role.

Social Quality in a Transitive Society

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeriy Heyets
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Quality ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One ◽  
Quality Approach ◽  
The Welfare State

Nearly 30 years of transformation of the sociopolitical and legal, socioeconomical and financial, sociocultural and welfare, and socioenvironmental dimensions in both Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, has led to a change of the social quality of daily circumstances. On the one hand, the interconnection and reciprocity of these four relevant dimensions of societal life is the underlying cause of such changes, and on the other, the state as main actor of the sociopolitical and legal dimension is the initiator of those changes. Applying the social quality approach, I will reflect in this article on the consequences of these changes, especially in Ukraine. In comparison, the dominant Western interpretation of the “welfare state” will also be discussed.

Welfare State

2020 ◽  
pp. 525-541
Author(s):  
Eloísa del Pino
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Crisis Period ◽  
The Third ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
The Welfare State

The first part of this chapter describes the main features of the Spanish Welfare State, trying to place it in a comparative perspective. The second part identifies the socioeconomic and political factors which explain its evolution since the beginning of the new century to the current situation, focusing on the attempts at recalibration of the system since 2000 and the interruption of this process due to the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008. The third part analyses the main challenges that the Welfare State has to face in the post-crisis period, which include some structural problems such as its inability to address inequality or poverty during the periods of economic growth. Finally, the chapter speculates about the future of the Welfare State in Spain.

In Need

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordanna Bailkin
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
The State ◽  
Ethnic Identities ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter asks how refugee camps transformed people as well as spaces, altering the identities of the individuals and communities who lived in and near them. It considers how camps forged and fractured economic, religious, and ethnic identities, constructing different kinds of unity and disunity. Camps had unpredictable effects on how refugees and Britons thought of themselves, and how they saw their relationship to upward and downward mobility. As the impoverished Briton emerged more clearly in the imagination of the welfare state, the refugee was his constant companion and critic. The state struggled to determine whether refugees required the same care as the poor, or if they warranted their own structures of aid.

Explaining Peaceful Change in Central and Eastern Europe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Tabachnik ◽  
Benjamin Miller
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
State Capacity ◽  
The State ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Two Independent Variables

This chapter explains the process of peaceful change in Central and Eastern Europe following the demise of the Soviet system. It also explains the failure of peaceful change in the Balkans and some post-Soviet countries, such as the Ukrainian conflict in 2014. The chapter accounts for the conditions for peaceful change and for the variation between peaceful and violent change by the state-to-nation theory. The two independent variables suggested by the theory are the level of state capacity and congruence—namely the compatibility between state borders and the national identities of the countries at stake. Moreover, according to the theory, great-power engagement serves as an intervening variable and in some conditions, as explained in the chapter, may help with peaceful change.

Clusterization of post-communist countries of the Central and Eastern Europe by income inequality level

2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 41-52
Author(s):  
T. Cherkashyna
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
National Income ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The Third ◽  
High Level ◽  
Communist Countries

Using level of income inequality, the clustering of post-communist countries of the Central and Eastern Europe is carried out by the following indicators: Gini index, share in the national income of the second quintile group, share in the national income of the third quintile group, share in the national income of the fourth quintile group, share in the national income of 10% of the poorest, share in the national income of 20% of the richest.,Сluster analysis (k-means method), in the programming environment Statistica is used as analysis tool and five clusters are obtained. The first cluster includes 8 countries (Albania, Hungary, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Сroatia, Russia, Slovakia) is characterized by sufficiently low level of income inequality and can be explained by flow of foreign investment and business transnationalization contributing to the increase of incomes of the main population groups of these countries. The second cluster includes 4 countries (Belarus, Slovenia, Ukraine, Moldova) and is characterized by comparatively low level of income inequality, but high level of property inequality due to heredity, аccumulated wealth та concentration of physical and financial capital by so called «oligarchic clans». The third cluster includes 5 countries (Bulgaria, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia) and is characterized by medium level of income inequality. The fourth and fifth clusters include so called «Baltic tigers» (Latvia, Lihuania, Estonia) and is characterized by high level of income inequality as the result of the occurrence of «excess profits» of financial assets owners. In order to decrease the income inequality in the investigated countries, the following measures are proposed: for the countries of the first cluster to accelerate deconcentration of capital ownership by «spaying» (redemption) of privatized enterprises shares by all categories on preferential terms (so called «ESOP programs»); for the countries of the second cluster to implement progressive tax scale where the tax rate for different groups of population vary depending on the income received and citizens with the lowest incomes (at the level of subsistence minimum or minimum wage) do not pay individual taxes at all; for the countries of the third cluster to cope with «shadow» economy and informal unemployment; for the counties of the fourth and fifth clusters to decrease tax burden on private entrepreneurs and thus stimulate self-employment.

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