engleski

Croatian welfare state: a lack of coherent policy paradigm followed by inconsistent policy reforms

The paper provides a deeper insight into the scope and type of welfare state change in Croatia. It shows that Croatian welfare state has undergone continuous transformations in the last two decades, with reforms being characterised by incremental and gradual changes. While there is some evidence of welfare state expansion, reforms mostly brought retrenchment. Retrenchment was particularly characteristic of the core ‘traditional’ social policy sectors, such as pensions, healthcare and social assistance, where cost-containment and ‘rationalisation’ featured among priorities, while expansion was the most notable in the area of the war veterans' rights (passive in character). Although recently one can notice higher investments in the labour market and work-family policies, these segments of the welfare state have remained underdeveloped in Croatia. Reforms did not follow one coherent policy paradigm and were frequently a subject of politicisation resulting in ill-advised, uncoordinated and inconsistent policy solutions.

Welfare state, Pensions, Healthcare, Family policy, Social Assistance, Labour market, Ideas

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