Abstract
Although most Western Balkan states began their economic transition from similar initial conditions as sub-national units within the former Yugoslavia, they have subsequently developed their welfare systems in quite different directions. In contrast, Albania started its transition from a diametrically opposed position as a highly centralised command economy. In developing new post-communist welfare states, the circumstances of transition and post-conflict reconstruction have led to varied welfare regimes based on a mix of legacies of the past, domestic policy choices and institutional borrowings from experiences in other countries. This chapter builds on the literature on the political economy of transition which identifies reform resistance from both losers and winners from transition and on the literature on different “worlds of welfare”, to identify the driving forces behind the different patterns of welfare provision which have emerged in the Western Balkans. Understanding the drivers of welfare state reform and the sources of reform resistance can inform realistic strategies to improve the effectiveness of social protection policies. This chapter develops these ideas using data gathered from documentary sources and recent field research carried out by the author involving interviews with policymakers and practitioners in all the Western Balkan countries, covering different aspects of welfare including social assistance, pensions and health service reforms.
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Notes
- 1.
Esping-Andersen (1990: 30) contrasted his political coalition model with the “power-resources” model developed by Korpi (1983) and others which focused on the strength of organised labour movements in forcing concessions from the dominant elite of advanced capitalist economies in the form of welfare benefits and poverty reduction outside the sphere of market economic relation.
- 2.
In Yugoslavia, prescription charges had been introduced in the health sector in 1966.
- 3.
Bojana Barlovic, “Serbia’s ‘social map’ reveals extent of poverty”, Balkan Insight, 22/4/2011.
- 4.
Interview, UNDP, Tirana, 1 June 2010.
- 5.
Here I refer to the concept of social expenditure used by the IMF which refers to social benefits as the sum of all expenditures on social insurance and social assistance, whether in cash or in kind. Government expenditure on social benefits covers health expenditure, family assistance including child allowances, pensions, unemployment benefits, housing benefits and other social transfers. Individual insurance against social risks and individual accounts in private pension funds, whether compulsory or voluntary, are not included in this definition. Social benefits are within the scope of the “economic” classification of government expenditure, whereas social protection falls within the “functional” classification.
- 6.
Countries which have been concerned with the declining and ageing populations have introduced pro-natalist policies in places such as Republika Srpska, Croatia and Serbia. In RS a children’s fund has been established alongside the pension fund and the health fund. In countries with growing and youthful populations, such policies have been unnecessary.
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Bartlett, W. (2013). The Political Economy of Welfare Reform in the Western Balkans. In: Ruggeri Laderchi, C., Savastano, S. (eds) Poverty and Exclusion in the Western Balkans. Economic Studies in Inequality, Social Exclusion and Well-Being, vol 8. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4945-4_14
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