The paper is discussing German social policy with an emphasis on labour market policy. The topic is set into the context of European social policy and European employment policy. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part informs the reader about European employment policy as a whole. It describes its evolution and targets specified by the European union. The second part is devoted to German labour market policy with an accent on the extensive reforms of the last years. Subsequently, the evaluation of these reforms and the current situation on the labour market in Germany are described. The last part is dealing with German labour market policy in the European context: German National reform programme and a comparative analysis with other member states of the EU. At the end of this chapter there are implications for the German labour market policy. The aim of this paper is to answer the question: How efficient is the German labour market policy comparing with other member states of the EU with regard to the target indicators of European employment policy? What direction is it heading and what are the possibilities of making it more efficient?

This dissertation takes a step towards providing a better understanding of post-socialist welfare state development from a theoretical as well as an empirical perspective. The overall analytical goal of this thesis has been to critically assess the development of social policies in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania using them as illustrative examples of post-socialist welfare state development in the light of the theories, approaches and typologies that have been developed to study affluent capitalist democracies. The four studies included in this dissertation aspire to a common aim in a number of specific ways. The first study tries to place the ideal-typical welfare state models of the Baltic States within the well-known welfare state typologies. At the same time, it provides a rich overview of the main social security institutions in the three countries by comparing them with each other and with the previous structures of the Soviet period. It examines the social insurance institutions of the Baltic States (old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, short-term benefits, sickness, maternity and parental insurance and family benefits) with respect to conditions of eligibility, replacement rates, financing and contributions. The findings of this study indicate that the Latvian social security system can generally be labelled as a mix of the basic security and corporatist models. The Estonian social security system can generally also be characterised as a mix of the basic security and corporatist models, even if there are some weak elements of the targeted model in it. It appears that the institutional changes developing in the social security system of Lithuania have led to a combination of the basic security and targeted models of the welfare state. Nevertheless, as the example of the three Baltic States shows, there is diversity in how these countries solve problems within the field of social policy. In studying the social security schemes in detail, some common features were found that could be attributed to all three countries. Therefore, the critical analysis of the main social security institutions of the Baltic States in this study gave strong supporting evidence in favour of identifying the post-socialist regime type that is already gaining acceptance within comparative welfare state research. Study Two compares the system of social maintenance and insurance in the Soviet Union, which was in force in the three Baltic countries before their independence, with the currently existing social security systems. The aim of the essay is to highlight the forces that have influenced the transformation of the social policy from its former highly universal, albeit authoritarian, form, to the less universal, social insurance-based systems of present-day Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This study demonstrates that the welfare–economy nexus is not the only important factor in the development of social programs. The results of this analysis revealed that people's attitudes towards distributive justice and the developmental level of civil society also play an important part in shaping social policies. The shift to individualism in people’s mentality and the decline of the labour movement, or, to be more precise, the decline in trade union membership and influence, does nothing to promote the development of social rights in the Baltic countries and hinders the expansion of social policies. The legacy of the past has been another important factor in shaping social programs. It can be concluded that social policy should be studied as if embedded not only in the welfare-economy nexus, but also in the societal, historical and cultural nexus of a given society. Study Three discusses the views of the state elites on family policy within a wider theoretical setting covering family policy and social policy in a broader sense and attempts to expand this analytical framework to include other post-socialist countries. The aim of this essay is to explore the various views of the state elites in the Baltics concerning family policy and, in particular, family benefits as one of the possible explanations for the observed policy differences. The qualitative analyses indicate that the Baltic States differ significantly with regard to the motives behind their family policies. Lithuanian decision-makers seek to reduce poverty among families with children and enhance the parents’ responsibility for bringing up their children. Latvian policy-makers act so as to increase the birth rate and create equal opportunities for children from all families. Estonian policy-makers seek to create equal opportunities for all children and the desire to enhance gender equality is more visible in the case of Estonia in comparison with the other two countries. It is strongly arguable that there is a link between the underlying motives and the kinds of family benefits in a given country. This study, thus, indicates how intimately the attitudes of the state bureaucrats, policy-makers, political elite and researchers shape social policy. It confirms that family policy is a product of the prevailing ideology within a country, while the potential influence of globalisation and Europeanisation is detectable too. The final essay takes into account the opinions of welfare users and examines the performances of the institutionalised family benefits by relying on the recipients’ opinions regarding these benefits. The opinions of the populations as a whole regarding government efforts to help families are compared with those of the welfare users. Various family benefits are evaluated according to the recipients' satisfaction with those benefits as well as the contemporaneous levels of subjective satisfaction with the welfare programs related to the absolute level of expenditure on each program. The findings of this paper indicate that, in Latvia, people experience a lower level of success regarding state-run family insurance institutions, as compared to those in Lithuania and Estonia. This is deemed to be because the cash benefits for families and children in Latvia are, on average, seen as marginally influencing the overall financial situation of the families concerned. In Lithuania and Estonia, the overwhelming majority think that the family benefit systems improve the financial situation of families. It appears that recipients evaluated universal family benefits as less positive than targeted benefits. Some universal benefits negatively influenced the level of general satisfaction with the family benefits system provided in the countries being researched. This study puts forward a discussion about whether universalism is always more legitimate than targeting. In transitional economies, in which resources are highly constrained, some forms of universal benefits could turn out to be very expensive in relative terms, without being seen as useful or legitimate forms of help to families. In sum, by closely examining the different aspects of social policy, this dissertation goes beyond the over-generalisation of Eastern European welfare state development and, instead, takes a more detailed look at what is really going on in these countries through the examples of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In addition, another important contribution made by this study is that it revives ‘western’ theoretical knowledge through ‘eastern’ empirical evidence and provides the opportunity to expand the theoretical framework for post-socialist societies.

This dissertation focuses on Austrian housing policy measures and regional housing markets. It places the Austrian situation into a European context and evaluates singular housing policy measures in detail. The evaluation includes aspects of effectiveness, equity, costs, and efficiency. This contribution brings together three empirical essays, each of which has a different focus and addresses particular elements of housing policy. All three papers use empirical methods, but with adjusted approaches according to their underlining research questions: from state finance comparisons, to subsidy calculations for specific households, to hedonic apartment price index construction. Quantitative methods, mainly based on administrative and survey data, are accompanied by qualitative research in the form of expert interviews. Across the three papers, the level of analysis differs and increases in focus: from the level of nation states, to the nine Austrian regions, to the 117 (as of 2015) administrative districts into which the Austrian territory is divided. The first two papers focus on state housing policy measures and evaluate them in an international comparative framework. Both follow different levels of aggregation. The first one takes a very broad view and quantifies the sum of expenses on various state housing policy measures in six EU countries at the level of nation states (Austria, Czech Republic, Great Britain, France, The Netherlands, and Spain). It investigates the structure of state support for the housing sector and establishes numeric estimates of its components (supply-side subsidies, housing benefits, tax advantages and concessions). The second paper focuses on a particular housing policy instrument in Austria: means-tested, income-dependent housing benefits. It analyses the nine regional housing benefit schemes in the context of minimum income schemes. The paper applies a comprehensive residual income approach to housing affordability and identifies market segments and household types where affordability is at risk, in spite of existing benefit schemes. The third paper calculates regional price indexes for second-hand apartments in Austria at the level of administrative districts. It is based on state-of-the-art hedonic methods of house price index construction that control for the varying distribution of apartment characteristics and locations over time. The resulting indexes are an important improvement over indexes based on average prices. All three papers address specific elements of Austrian housing policy and identify areas for policy improvements and necessary future research activity.

The thesis will be aimed on problematics of the social politics, concretely on comparison of the Czech republic pension system and Finland pension system. Aim of the theoretical part of thesis will be to explain and clarify problematics of social politics with focus on pension systems. Diploma thesis will also contain strict preview of the pension system from the political view, because pension system is influenced by the political decisions a lot. Aim of the practical part of thesis will be pointing out between pension systems, reveal their pros and cons and finding appropriate implications, if there are some for Czech pension system and suggest possible improvements to the future. Basic hypothesis of this thesis will be then tested on this comparative analysis. Conclusion of this thesis should reveal answer to the question, if there are some principles and mechanisms, Czech republic can be inspired from Finland and if it is appropriate to implicate these principles to the Czech system.

The diploma thesis is aimed at availabilitymapping and analysing of social services in the Zlín region. Special attention is devoted to the Vsetín area with an aim to evaluate a scope, structure of providers and availability of social services in this peripheral area of the Czech Republic. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. At introduction of the theoretical part there are defined elementary terms and then a research focused on running of social systems of Slovakia, Germany and Great Britain follows. Subsequently there is social policy of the Czech Republic described together with related law, structure of social service providers and engagement of non-governmental sector. In the theoretical part there is a comparison of social system of the Czech Republic with above mentioned states of Europe. A conclusion contains issues of community planning, creation and advantages which are connected with its process. The practical part of the thesis deals with social services in the Zlín region. Attention is focused on structure and typology of social services and their availability for local inhabitants, a community plan and its application within whole Zlín region as well as in individual districts. A part of the practical section is a detailed analysis of social services in Vsetín district and presentation of its community plan, specification of provided services in this area, structure of these services and problems connected with the offer. Methods used in the diploma thesis are analysis, research, comparison, methods of field research and synthesis of obtained findings.

The aim of this thesis is to monitor and evaluate the availability of social services in the Moravian-Silesian region with a more specific focus on the region Karvina. To better achieve the goal, there were set research questions that focus primarily on differences in the range of services for seniors and persons with disabilities, both in the region and in the Karvina region. The theoretical part is focused on defining the basic terms of social policy. There are introduced social models in the European Union and the social system in the Czech Republic. The next chapter presents the theoretical part of social services in the Czech Republic, where the services are divided according to types and according to the focus on the target groups of disadvantaged persons. It also describes the financial aspects for these services. The practical part is divided into two areas of investigation. First, it analyzes the availability of services in the Moravian-Silesian region where the services are compared between six regions. Further analysis evaluates the availability of social services in the Karvina region. Conclusion corresponds to the predetermined hypothesis whether the services offer to the two largest target group are different or not.

The thesis deals with changes in attitude towards the US welfare state in the 1980s and 1990s, when its classical (liberal) concept was outshined by a more rational attitude of conservatism. Through a reduction in the number of welfare recipients President Reagan wanted to terminate the growth trend in the cost of social security. His provisions, however, caused a reduction in work incentives of welfare recipients and a significant decline in income of these people. Along with measures positively motivating to work President Clinton limited eligibility for social benefits and caused significant changes in the behavior of groups of people most dependent on these revenues. Analysis in the last part is focused on the effects of these measures on American society and changes in the well-being of various groups of the population. Findings show that Clinton was able to exploit the good economic conditions of the late 20th century better than Reagan. His social reform caused a more significant decrease in the number of those receiving social benefits, which was also accompanied by improvements in living conditions of US citizens - by growing self-sufficiency through increased labor participation and a decrease in poverty.

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This study investigated the perceptions of the beneficiaries of a learner transport programme in the Idutywa District of the Eastern Cape. Learner transport in South Africa continues to be a challenge, especially for those in the rural areas. The Statistics South Africa General Household Survey (2016:14) reported that more than two thirds (69.8%) of learners walked to school and 83.6% of these learners needed 30 minutes or less to get to school. Many learners in the rural areas still walk long distances to access schools due to poor infrastructure and the limited number of easily accessible schools. To understand the beneficiaries’ perceptions, a qualitative case study of a secondary school in the rural Eastern Cape village was designed. Data was collected through 47 face-to-face interviews with learners, teachers, parents, a principal as well as through a telephone interview with a government official. Additionally, observations were undertaken to gather supplementary data focusing on the geography of the village as well as the arrival and departure times of the school transport. The study draws on a social policy framework to make sense of the study findings. Through a thematic analysis of the data, themes such as spaces of operation, learners’ travelling experiences, schooling barriers as well as unintended consequences of the learner transport programme were arrived at. Although the transport provided much needed relief, findings indicate that learners still walk to school if the transport does not pick them up as scheduled and they often do not have money for public transport. They also got to school late when they had to walk to school, there is a shortage in the number of vehicles assigned to transport them, learners also missed extra lessons due to the pick-up and departure times of the transport and there is occasional conflict amongst the learners using the learner transport. The study concludes that there needs to be an increased provision of the government learner transport, work needs to be done regarding the implementation of the Learner Transport Policy, as well as the management of the programme in rural villages such as the one that the study focused on in Eastern Cape. / Sociology / MSocSci / Unrestricted

Welfare state scholars have amassed competing theoretical explanations for the development of welfare policies. When considering the U.S. case, a discussion of federalism is central to these theoretical examinations. How power in policymaking is distributed amongst the varying levels of government is influential in the construction of the U.S. welfare state. Standard quantitative approaches to U.S. welfare research have offered a limited analysis of how theoretical explanations change after historical moments of welfare reform. In this study, I examine the institutional changes introduced to U.S. welfare in 1996 by way of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). This study examines the changes in welfare maximum benefit levels for a 3-person family from 1987-2015. However, I apply an alternative quantitative approach to studying the effects PRWORA has had on benefit maximums by splitting models into two separate time periods and running analyses separately: pre-PRWORA (1987-1996) and post-PRWORA (1997-2015). By applying this methodological approach, I demonstrate how the influence of different sets of theories change after institutional reforms, such as PRWORA. The results offer new insights to the temporal applicability of different theoretical explanations and the construction of social citizenship.