Introduction 1. The welfare state in East Central Europe: a conceptual and theoretical reconsideration 2. Institutional legacies: state-building, regime change, and the development of national welfare states in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary, 1919-1989 3. Policy legacies of state socialism: cycles of social policy expansion and retrenchment in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary, 1945-1989 4. Historical legacies, welfare state institutions and the politics of social policy reforms in postcommunist East Central Europe Conclusion.

Welfare States in East Central Europe, 1919–2004: Historical Legacies, Welfare State Institutions, and the Politics of Social Policy Reforms in Postcommunist East Central Europe, 1989–2004

This review article and special issue introduction argues that studying the relationship between the populist radical right and the welfare state requires bridging literatures that have so far adva...

How to study the populist radical right and the welfare state

ABSTRACT The extraordinary context of the COVID-19 crisis gave governments around the world a freer hand to reshape their socio-economic orders. Political economists studying East Central Europe have started a debate in how far democratic backsliding in the region has ushered in a more authoritarian form of capitalism. Our paper examines responses to COVID-19 of four anti-liberal governments in the region: Hungary, Poland, Serbia, and Slovenia. Incorporating multiple case studies, it assesses the degree to which growing centralisation of political power has entrenched different mechanisms of authoritarian capitalism, as well as the limits to their use in different national contexts.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21599165.2022.2122044?needAccess=true

Riding the Covid waves: authoritarian socio-economic responses of east central Europe’s anti-liberal governments

Abstract The specificity of political and economic changes in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) over the past decade requires detailed theoretical analysis and in-depth empirical research. In particular, the so-called illiberal turn in politics and the accompanying economic reforms are of interest to social scientists. This article attempts to explain this turn in the context of social policy changes, based on the example of the Family 500+ programme in Poland during the rule of the populist political party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice, or PiS). To demonstrate the instrumental role of this programme in the implementation of the illiberal strategy, the concept of the commodification of social benefits is used to shed new light on the specificity of Polish ‘pseudo-social welfare’. Hence, the main premise of this article is the thesis that the Family 500+ programme not only fails to constitute the foundation of the Polish welfare state, but, through the commodification of social relations and cuts within the de-commodified social services, it reinforces neoliberal economic forces and the importance of the state.

The Illiberal Turn in Politics and Ideology through the Commodified Social Policy of the ‘Family 500+’ Programme

Abstract The positions of the radical right parties (RRPs) concerning the family have generally been examined through a socio-cultural lens, but very little is known about their distributive preferences. Based on the theoretical insights from the literature on varieties of familialism and social investment, the article investigates the RRPs' family policy agenda in terms of preference and support for familialism and de-familialism. Furthermore, cross-country similarities and differences will be investigated through an explanatory framework that combines the literature on partisan politics with that on historical institutionalism. A content analysis of party manifestos has shown that the RRPs adopt a male-breadwinner policy agenda, mostly intended to please their authoritarian electorate. However, comparative empirical research has highlighted some cross-country differences. These are explained by considering the counter-feedback mechanism triggered by the policy legacies, which provides RRPs with divergent electoral incentives and disincentives to promote their family policy agenda.

/pdf/investigating-the-radical-right-s-family-policy-agenda-1u3kof4x.pdf

Investigating the radical right's family policy agenda: evidence from six European countries

This article contributes to the emerging studies of populist radical right parties’ social policies by looking at two cases, Italy and Poland, where such parties have been in office without the con...

Back to the familialist future: the rise of social policy for ruling populist radical right parties in Italy and Poland

We explore the factors behind the long-term erosion of National Social Dialogue Institutions (NSDIs) to provide insights about the conditions for their revitalization. By applying policy analysis i...

Igor Guardiancich

Papers

Back to the familialist future: the rise of social policy for ruling populist radical right parties in Italy and Poland

From gradual erosion to revitalization: National Social Dialogue Institutions and policy effectiveness: