The topic of public services is a complex societal issue, which touches upon such questions which are on the border of legal and economic research and comprises various ideas of societal arrangements. The provision of public services in European societies is seen as a constitutive element of the European social model(s). This issue is experiencing a remarkable revival in academic work as well as in political discourse. The aim of this Master's Thesis is to provide an insight into the process of the Europeanization of public services. The Thesis is embarking on questions comprising the national variations of public services, the transformation of the welfare state and the European social model (or models). The common theme which is connecting the different strands of the Thesis is the idea of the crucial influence of European integration on all of these aspects, the process of which has a far-reaching influence on the role and shape of public services and thus on the future societal development in the individual Member states as well as European society as a whole.

In general, migration is one of the most important global challenges. The topic of regulating migration flows came to the fore in relation to the current Europe's migration, or more precisely, refugee crisis. It has been described as the most massive migrant's crisis since the WW2. Unprecedented influx of immigrants and refugees in 2015 resulted in that even the best prepared European countries, such as Sweden, have reached a tipping point with regard to respect EU standards related to reception and processing of asylum applications. Master thesis covered two main analyses - the relevance of the refugee crisis in the EU in regards to the Swedish welfare state and the subsequent implications arising from the refugee crisis for the Swedish welfare state.

The thesis is focused on health care funding in Czech Republic. Comparative analysis confront current Czech health care system with effective one used in Netherlands. First part explains importance of health care activities in welfare state as a public interest priority that influence national economy. Second part presents positive and negative aspects of each type of health care system used abroad. Summary of all these fund sources, type of compensations and health care providers characteristics shapes a hypotetical effective system that can be implemented into a practice of universal health insurance system with detailed considaration of historical, political, legal and social aspects of Czech Republic. According to all these analysis I aim to recommend healt care system improvements that would enhance health care quality.

The specific provision of welfare reform disqualifying legal immigrants from social security, did not materialize due to several developments.

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Les jeunes (15 à 29 ans) sont particulièrement vulnérables aux chocs économiques et la capacité à intégrer le marché du travail est une étape importante influençant leur bien-être à long terme. La crise financière de 2007-08 a donc eu des effets importants sur eux. En réponse, les États capitalistes avancés ont adopté une série de politiques pour aider les jeunes. Pourtant, malgré ces nouvelles politiques, les dépenses publiques pour le marché du travail n’ont pas augmenté de manière stable lors de la période. Les analyses récentes semblent confirmer qu’au lieu d’investir dans les programmes plus dispendieux, les États adoptent des politiques axées sur une rhétorique de droits et de responsabilités. En effet, selon certains chercheurs, les États ont adopté des politiques qui créent des incitatifs pour joindre le marché du travail au lieu d’investir dans le capital humain. La recherche actuelle appuie l'argumentaire que les États-providence convergent autour de politiques de faible coût. Nonobstant les pressions pour le changement, les États ont différents besoins. Ainsi, il reste improbable qu’ils adoptent les mêmes solutions. Aucune analyse récente n’a étudié les politiques d’emploi des jeunes adoptées depuis la crise financière. Cette thèse pose alors la question, comment est-ce que les États-providence ont modifié leurs politiques de transition depuis la crise financière? La thèse répond à cette question à partir de trois cadres analytiques du changement politique. Ces cadres sont appliqués à trois études de cas : le Danemark, la France et le Royaume-Uni. Afin de pleinement considérer ces politiques dans toute leur complexité, cette thèse se sert d'une typologie des incitatifs d'activation pour comparer des mélanges d'instruments entre gouvernements. Une fois les mélanges d'incitatifs déterminés, une analyse de process-tracing détermine comment les États ont modifié leurs politiques de transition depuis la crise financière. Ces recherches nous permettent de constater que ces trois pays ont adopté de nouvelles politiques pour l’emploi des jeunes depuis la crise financière. Dans chaque étude de cas, les États ont adopté des politiques qui perpétuent la logique d’action dominante. Or, chaque étude de cas a aussi adopté des politiques qui dévient de la logique d’action dominante. Ces changements sont expliqués à l'aide de trois cadres théoriques, l'apprentissage, les ressources et l'institutionnalisme historique. Cette recherche contribue à la littérature de l'État-providence en outrepassant la littérature existante et donnant un rapport détaillé des politiques d'activation pour les jeunes et de leur adoption depuis la crise financière. / Youth (15 to 29-year-olds) are vulnerable to economic shocks, and the ability to enter the labour market has significant effects on their long-term wellbeing. Consequently, the 2007-08 financial crisis had the potential to affect youth gravely, which is why welfare states adopted a series of policy initiatives to help youth in the post-crisis. Although countries adopted policies, traditional data such as labour market policy expenditures do not reveal increased spending consistent with higher unemployment levels. Research also shows welfare states have favoured policies that reinforce incentives to join the labour market and help individuals market their skills over more expensive policies that invest in human capital since the financial crisis. These analyses support the argument welfare states are converging around low-cost policies. These pressures notwithstanding, the adoption of similar policies is unusual because the needs between countries remain diverse. For that reason, and despite the factors inhibiting change, countries should not be adopting the same policies to respond to high youth unemployment. This dissertation investigates this complex policy environment by using a typology of activation incentives to compare policy instrument mixes between governments. Process-tracing is then used to determine how welfare states modified their youth employment policies since the financial crisis. First, qualitative data is used to identify the different policy mixes adopted in each case. Second, the policymaking process is analyzed using process-tracing methods. Research findings indicate all three cases, Denmark, France, and the United Kingdom, adopted new youth policies after the financial crisis. In addition to funding policies that continue typical logics found in each country, evidence shows each case adopted policies that deviate from established logics. These results are explained using three theoretical frameworks to identify mechanisms for change: policy learning, power resources and historical institutionalism. For each case, the dissertation outlines how these factors interacted to affect the policymaking process. This research contributes to welfare state literature by going beyond existing quantitative analysis to provide an in-depth account of youth activation policies and the policymaking process in the post-crisis.

Unter all den denkbaren Effekten von Sozialpolitik auf Politik untersuche ich hier die Möglichkeit, dass Sozialpolitik den Handlungsspielraum von Politik absichert; dass Sozialpolitik Erfolgsvoraussetzung von Politik ist. Es geht also um die Frage, in welcher Weise staatliche Sozialpolitik eine Voraussetzung für Politik ist, um die Frage der sozialpolitischen Selbstermöglichung von Politik. Solch ein Zugang muß den gewohnten Blick auf Staat und Sozialpolitik irritieren. Denn üblicherweise werden sozialpolitische Verpflichtungen des Staates als Beeinträchtigung, als Überforderung staatlicher Handlungsfähigkeit gesehen. Zuerst werde ich kurz auf die Entwicklung des sozialwissenschaftlichen Verständnisses der gesellschaftlichen Bedingtheit staatlicher Politik eingehen. Dann werde ich ein grundsätzliches Dilemma staatlicher Steuerung darstellen. Anschließend werde ich dieses anhand der aktuellen Schwierigkeiten mehrerer politischer Großprojekte veranschaulichen. Dann werde ich nach einem Theoriemuster zur Interpretation dieser Schwierigkeiten suchen, mit dem sich zeigen läßt, wie Sozialpolitik einpassbar ist. Und schließlich werde ich Konsequenzen diskutieren, die sich aus der Integration von Sozialpolitik in eine soziologische Theorie der Gesellschaft ergeben.:Einleitung; Unsicherheit, Sozialpolitik und Demokratie; Staat und Politik; Zeithorizonte von Politik und Interessen; Sozialpolitisch gestützte Politik; Funktionale Differenzierung und Sozialpolitik

This diploma thesis focuses on changes in the system of sickness insurance in the Czech Republic since 2009. Based on the analysis of the development of social security in the context of neoliberal capitalism and economic globalization, the aim of the thesis was to reflect the ideological and factual basis and the legitimacy of the institutional change in the sphere of sickness insurance in connection with adoption of Act No. 187/2006 Coll., On sickness insurance and the discovery of socio-economic consequences of these changes. The theoretical basis of this thesis has been the institutional change in the sphere of sickness and the (non) legitimacy of the policy in this sphere of public finance reforms. Other theories have included the relationship of economic and social policy that they have been closely related to the theory of social state. The social state has been the beginning of the subject of aging, globalization and the recession of economic development in the last decades. In the empirical part of the thesis, with the use of the method of institutional analysis, critical discursive analyzes and interviews, the sphere of sickness insurance was examined in connection with the connection with the adoption of Act No. 187/2006 Coll., On sickness insurance and the socio-economic implications of...

My master thesis explores classical liberal attitudes towards the Welfare State. It deals especially with concepts developed by the so-called new classical liberals (also called neoclassical liberals) represented by scholars of the Arizona School. I use their ideas to reconstruct free-market liberal theory of social justice, which is then applied to pension reforms in Chile and Sweden. The thesis also recollects critiques of public pension systems by public choice theory scholars, which are then used to explore a nature of the aforementioned pension reforms. In cases of both reforms, these theoretical frameworks are used to evaluate data obtained by a desk research. Relevant documents and also data of international organizations and national statistical offices were used. In its last part, the thesis evaluates primary data obtained by semi-standardized interviews with seven Czech classical liberals and explores their attitudes towards both the free market liberal theory of social justice and pension reforms in Chile and in Sweden. Abstrakt Diplomová práce zkoumá vztah klasického liberalismu k sociálnímu státu. Zabývá se zejména koncepty vyvinutými takzvanými novými klasickými liberály reprezentovanými především badateli arizonské školy. Jejich ideje využívám k rekonstrukci tržně liberální teorie...

Globalization has facilitated international communication and economic activities that motivate more international migration. Different cultures and values from the West and the East are interwoven in the same social context. Meanwhile, aging has become a notable phenomenon in most developed countries due to declining fertility and increased life expectancy. A digital transformation of society is taking place alongside the aging and international migration that will start to question the image of older adults and the patterns of providing elderly care. Chinese elderly care is characterized by familism providing family-based informal care to an older family member. Despite the influence of migration and modern lifestyles, filial piety is expected to continue to guide the care responsibilities and care providing among Chinese families.  This thesis aims to understand the cultural provision of support and care for Chinese older adults living in Sweden and under the influence of the digital transformation of society. It starts by exploring the disparities, barriers, and facilitators for older immigrants in need of home care to utilize digital technology. After constructing knowledge about the influences of the foreign environment and continuous digitalization in home care, the thesis seeks to understand how filial piety continues to be enacted; what part of the tradition is preserved, and what is changed; how the internal and external factors influence the decision of elderly care; and the role of digitalization in this process. The thesis utilizes qualitative in-depth interviews to continue investigations among eight midlife and older Chinese immigrants living in Sweden. Thematic analysis was employed for data analysis. Berry’s acculturation framework and Yeh’s Dual Filial Piety Model provide the theoretical ground for the research.  The results indicated that filial piety is in transition in terms of filial responsibilities, filial behaviors, and intergenerational relationships. Despite the differences in the acculturation level, the authoritarian element of filial piety lacked ground in the Swedish social context. Respondents showed their willingness to strengthen the reciprocity with their adult children by providing additional support, valuing affections rather than hands-on care, respecting adult children’s decisions. The uptake of digital technologies has enabled midlife and older Chinese immigrants to maintain more frequent contact with family members and friends in other countries. It also improves the autonomy and capabilities for respondents to plan more independent later lives. The conclusion is that traditional values such as filial piety was not as prominent in Sweden as they are in China. / Globaliseringen har möjliggjort gränsöverskridande kommunikation och export samt import av varor och tjänster. Även människor rör sig över olika delar i världen och emigrerar till främmande länder. Detta i sin tur innebär att olika kulturer och värderingar från väst och öst behöver vävas samman och samsas i samma sociala kontext. Förutom globaliseringen så har åldrandet; på grund av sjunkande fertilitet och ökad livslängd, blivit en betydande företeelse i de flesta utvecklingsländer. En digital omvandling av samhället pågår parallellt med åldrandet och den internationella migrationen. I det avseendet blir äldre immigranter, deras teknikanvändning och syn på äldreomsorg allt viktigare.  Kinesisk äldreomsorg kännetecknas av familjebaserad informell vård till av äldre familjemedlemmar. Trots samhällets förändring och digitalisering, förväntas barnen ha huvudansvaret för vård och omsorg av sina äldre familjemedlemmar. Fenomenet kallas ”filial piety” och beskriver barnens skyldigheter att sörja för sina föräldrar på ett respektfullt sätt.  Denna licentiatexamen syftar till att öka kunskapen om äldre kinesiska immigranter som bor i Sverige och deras förväntningar på omhändertagandet och äldrelivet i Sverige relaterat till digitaliseringen.  Licentiatexamen börjar med att utforska skillnaderna, hindren och möjligheter i att använda digital teknik bland äldre invandrare i behov av hemtjänst. Licentiatexamen använder kvalitativa djupintervjuer för att undersöka hur åtta medelålders och äldre kinesiska invandrare, bosatta i Sverige. Intervjuerna har analyserat med hjälp av tematisk analys. Berrys ramverk för ackulturation och Yehs ”Dual Filial Piety Model” utgör den teoretiska grunden för forskningen. Resultaten indikerade på att synen på ”filial piety” är i förändring när det gäller vårdnadsansvar, beteenden och relationer mellan generationerna. Trots skillnaderna i nivån av ackulturation saknades det auktoritära inslaget av ”filial piety” i den svenska kontexten. Intervjupersonerna betonade sin vilja att stärka samspelet med sina vuxna barn genom att ge stöd och affektion snarare än att de förväntade att barnen skulle ge praktisk vård och omsorg. De intervjuade visade stor respekt för sina vuxna barns beslut och självständighet. Användningen av digital teknik möjliggjorde att de intervjuade kunde hålla tät kontakt med familjemedlemmar och vänner i andra länder. Den digitala kontakten med familjemedlemmar och vänner i sin tur, ansågs stödja deras autonomi och förmåga att planera sina framtida liv och äldreomsorg. Slutsatsen är att traditionella värderingar så som ”filial piety” påverkades av den svenska kontexten och förväntningarna på de vuxna barnen var inte lika höga och framträdande som de traditionellt sett varit i Kina. / <p>QC 2021-11-02</p>