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.

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.

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.

scholarly journals Welfare state: Convergence: Downward versus upward

2010 ◽  
pp. 21-42
Author(s):  
Kosta Josifidis ◽  
Novica Supic
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common ◽  
Beta Convergence ◽  
The Eu

The aim of this paper is to contribute, in the theoretical and empirical sense, to better understanding the challenges of the EU welfare regimes and how particular regimes react on them. Despite significant differences among the EU welfare regimes, it is real to expect that they will converge because of the common challenges confronting them. In this paper, using the model of sigma and beta convergence, we are trying to predict the possible direction of convergence in the sense that Europe will go toward to more or less generosity or in other words it will converge downward or upward. The downward convergence means the strengthen competition among existing welfare regimes, in order to maintain and/or attract capital, that could reduce the social spending generosity. On the other hand, the upward convergence above involves the strengthening of coordination among existing welfare regimes according to the values of solidarity and social justice, which characterise not only the most developed EU countries but also the supranational 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 Constitutional (Im)balance between ‘the Market’ and ‘the Social’ in the European Union

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sacha Garben
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Economic Governance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Eu

An assessment of the balance between ‘the market’ and ‘the social’ by reference to the areas of social policy, the internal market and economic governance – Imbalance resulting from a consitutional displacement of the legislative process (EU and national) and instead decision-making by the judiciary and the executive – Proposals to address the imbalance by reinforcing the role of the EU legislative process and limiting other forms of European integration.

scholarly journals Between Neoliberalism and Nationalist Populism: What Role for the ‘European Social Model’ and Social Quality in Post-Brexit Europe?

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Corbett ◽  
Alan Walker
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Social Quality ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Eu Referendum ◽  
Key Drivers ◽  
Societal Problems ◽  
Individual Participation

This article investigates the idea of ‘the social’ in Europe after the UK's EU Referendum vote, with reference to the ‘European social model’. It is argued that the key drivers of the vote outcome did not feature in the referendum campaign but are features of longer running and deeper fractures in both British and wider European society. Especially, the lack of response to societal problems, the downplaying of individual participation, and a crisis in democracy created by an increasingly neoliberal direction within an EU concerned with austerity and social control, contrary to the values of the ‘European social model’ (Walker, 2005). In the absence of action for better ‘social quality’, this overall neoliberal direction has also weakened the progressive and integrative potential of social policy. The result is the regressive nationalist populist backlash against neoliberal technocracy. Instead, we argue that answers to contemporary European challenges must focus on improving social quality and democracy.

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