WELFARE STATE REFORMS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE AND NEW SOCIAL RISK

In Central and Eastern Europe societies are undergoing a process of drastic transformation, involving a functional, distributive, normative and institutional recalibration of the welfare architecture introduced during the trente glorieuses of the welfare state and even more dramatic due to the difficult transition from a central planned economy to a market economy. New social risks emerge due to the transformation of labor markets and of family structures during the last tow decades or so. Among these risks are those of reconciling work and family, or of low education in a knowledge-based post- industrial economy. The literature on new social risks (NSRs) has, so far, been concerned with Western European countries. A number of authors have identified the principal factors for the emergence of NSRs as, the de-industrialization and tertiarization of employment, women's entry in the labour market, increasing instability of the family structure, and processes linked to the privatization of the welfare state. The politics of new social policies are different from those of old social policies. The most favourable conditions for growth of new social policies are given in nations with a large public sector. the political economy of skill formation that has characterized the postcommunist transition (the Post-communist skill production regime) has been characterized by an ambiguous mix of high social insurance, modest public investments in education, and increasing reliance of private investments in industry specific and occupation specific skills associated, however, to high distributive aspirations but growing levels of social inequality. A key risk factor in the post-industrial knowledge-based economies is low educating.