Naslov
Eldercare puzzles in postcommunist countries: experiences and trends in Croatia and the Czech Republic

Autori
Dobrotić, Ivana ; Plasová, Blanka

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), znanstveni

Skup
11th Annual ESPAnet Conference: Social Policy and economic development

Mjesto i datum
Poznań, Poljska, 05.09.2013. - 07.09.2013

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
eldercare; logics of care governance; marketization; decentralization; Croatia; Czech Republic

Sažetak
The combination of population ageing and the growing pressure on labour market participation of women made eldercare one of the important policy areas, which create an increasing pressure for state intervention. However, at the political level a need to seriously address the growing eldercare demands has not been recognised enough and countries have put different emphasis to this area. The economic sustainability of eldercare become one of the important challenges, while the common trends towards mixed economy of care can be recognised, as well as a growing aspiration towards deinstitutionalisation and individualisation of care. The argumentation behind these trends differs, as well as their implementation, where policy history and politics, among others, shape the reform outcomes, making eldercare an interesting policy area which needs further elaboration, especially in different national contexts. This paper aims to analyse the main trends and to reveal the dominant logics of eldercare in two postcommunist countries, Croatia and the Czech Republic. The main questions are: 1) how high are the eldercare reforms on the political agenda and what kinds of discourses are prevailing in this policy field in compared countries ; 2) under what logic was the systems of eldercare redesigned and reorganised in two countries and what circumstances led to this reforms ; 3) what are the consequences of new reforms regarding the access and delivery of services? In both countries the continuity with the past can be observed as the state remained an inherent actor in this area (the logic of state provision), especially when it comes to financing of eldercare ; while due to insufficient eldercare capacities (with unequal regional availability) the family continues to play an important role at practical level (the logic of family provision). However, the role of family is more strongly advocated and promoted in the Czech Republic in line with familialistic shift in late socialism. Adversely, in Croatia the importance on family provision at practical level has been mostly indirectly maintained as there are missing eldercare capacities, while at political level rather an increased marketization was seen as an answer on insufficient eldercare capacities and demands for lower public expenditures in this area. In term of pluralisation, the Czech Republic relies more on local authorities as autonomous providers of eldercare services and the involvement of NGOs and for-profit organizations remains rather low. Both countries are increasingly facing the problems with availability and affordability of eldercare.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Socijalne djelatnosti

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