Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Professor John Wilton
Lecture 3
Types and models of European Welfare States

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
Types of European Welfare/ States:
•Conservative-corporatist, i.e. Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, France, Belgium
•Social Democratic, i.e. Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands
•Anglo-Saxon, i.e, United Kingdom, Ireland
•Mediterranean; i.e. Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy
•Post-Communist (Central Europe, Eastern Europe)

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
Categorised into types according to:
a)relative importance assigned to central welfare producers – state, market, family;
b)differing requirements on citizens for access to welfare services and payments;
c)level of support to citizens through social policy and welfare provision;
d)degree to which able to maintain social status of  clients (effectiveness of the ‘safety net’);
e)degree to which clients are pressured to join labour force

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
1. Conservative-corporatist
- tradition of strong state managing and incorporating social groups
- relatively little emphasis on redistribution as a goal of social policy
- organisation of welfare and social policy provision are pluralistic; i.e. non-state and
para-state organisations predominate in administration and distribution of services
- reflect the influence of Catholic social teaching, particularly the principle of subsidiarity

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
2. Social Democratic Welfare States
- promotes minimum needs, and equal and high standards of welfare for all citizens
- work and welfare closely connected - welfare system dependent on having as high a proportion as
possible of adult population in employment
- Swedish approach based on 4 pillars:
a) social and welfare tradition
b) high personal taxation and low corporate taxation
c) cautious and competent state management
d) employer/union cooperation

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
3. Anglo-Saxon Welfare States
- UK system founded on ‘Beveridge model’ = wide range of contributory benefits, National Health
Service (since 1948) provided a tax-financed universalist service, unique sector of public sector
/local municipal authority owned (council) housing
- poverty and social exclusion grown rapidly since 1980s;
 proportion of population living in households below   50% of average income = 10% 1979, 25% 1997,
36% 2023.

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
-Rise in single adult households (including lone parent families) 7% between 2013 to 2023 (up to
-3.2 million)
‘Income inequality in the U.K. is now at its highest level since comparable statistics began in
1961’
(‘State of the Nation Report, 2010’, page 6
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/410872/web-poverty-report.pdf)
- movement from Beveridge principles to more liberal welfare system, and introduction of principles
of ‘internal market’/privatisation, resulting in greater social exclusion

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
4. Mediterranean/Southern European Welfare States
a) high fragmentation and inconsistency of   provision – imbalances in social protection;
b) the role of the family as important institution;
c) relatively low degree of state activity – led to ‘public/private’ collusion and massive waste
and inefficiency;
d) a ‘clientelistic culture’ – political corruption, ‘political clientelism’ and vote trading
e) relatively weak state apparatus – weak state institutions, bureaucracy, and ‘political class’

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
f) strong role and influence of Catholic church;
g) generous pension provision (until recent Eurozone crisis and global financial crisis)
h) ‘demographic time bomb’ – imbalance between numbers of elderly people and those of working age

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
5. Post-Communist (Central Europe, Eastern Europe)
- legacy of communist period
PLUS
- privatisation of social services and welfare in transition to market economy
- populations’ low trust in State institutions
PLUS
- informal social policy and welfare support (family and personal networks)

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
5. Post-Communist
(Central Europe, Eastern Europe)
- traditional gender roles prevail to a large extent (proved difficult to change in these
societies)
  - relatively large differences in salaries between men and women remain, even with ‘EU 22% to
Equality Project’, financed from European Social Fund, to promote gender equality)

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
5. Post-Communist
(Central Europe, Eastern Europe)
- States can be loosely divided into 2 sub-set groups/models
a) Central Europe Model (e.g. Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)
    - similar characteristics and closer to welfare and social policy systems in ‘old’
European/E.U. Countries (i.e Germany, Austria)

Contemporary Social Policy in the E.U.
Lecture 3
5. Post-Communist
(Central Europe, Eastern Europe)
b) Eastern Europe Model ( e.g. Romania, Bulgaria)
- very different to other models
- much more of a ‘hybrid’ mix of lingering       characteristics and elements of the former
communist period pre-1989
PLUS
- subsequent requirements of joining, and being       a member of the European Union