Welfare Regimes in Central and Eastern Europe: Incorporating Post-Communist Countries in a Welfare Regime Typology

Abstract

Abstract
\nThis article uses hierarchical cluster analysis to empirically assess if the postcommunist
\nwelfare states of Central and Eastern Europe can be classified according
\nto any of Esping-Andersen’s well-known welfare types, or if they form
\na distinct group of their own. It shows that at the start of the twenty-first century,
\nthere are clear differences in the governmental programmes and the social
\nsituation between traditional Western welfare states and post-communist
\nwelfare states. The article argues that the welfare states in post-communist
\ncountries might be subdivided into three groups: (1) a group of former-USSR
\ncountries, including Russia and Belarus; (2) a group of rather successful Central and Eastern European countries including Poland and the Czech Republic,
\nand (3) a group of developing welfare states, consisting of Romania,
\nMoldova and Georgia.