European Social Model and Opportunities for Establishing Welfare States in Latin America

The article provides a comparative analysis of European and Latin American models of the Welfare State. The author shows that the experience of the European social paradigm has been carefully studied in the Latin American region in the past, and is taken into account nowadays, when all the countries over the planet are faced with the dramatic consequences of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. In addition to a deep economic shock, other problems are attributed to the characteristics of the current cycle (sometimes referred to as "neo-normal") such as welfare loss and deepening social inequalities. Complicated social environment objectively forces the governments on both sides of the Atlantic to search for medium term strategies for social protection of the most vulnerable strata of society. There is an acute issue of the State's ability to cope with the consequences of the pandemic crisis, to find ways for economic recovery and overcoming social difficulties that have arisen. The hypothesis is put forward that Transatlantic interaction in the field of social policy will help to find more effective measures for solving some social problems in Latin American region.