Welfare States in Transition: The Development of the Welfare States of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia, after the disintegration of Yugoslavia up to present date
General
The states of former Yugoslavia, which up to 1990 belonged to one federal state and were therefore part of the same welfare regime, have gone their separate ways. The states have been faced with the challenge to build up their own welfare system, as a response to the socio-economic transformations which took place in the 90ties. This had to be done in a setting of both political and socio-economic restructuring, also following a violent conflict. The period of transition left the societies in a vulnerable state and this made way for the rise of social problems, such as unemployment, poverty, dramatic social inequality among individuals, different groups and regions. After the 90ties each of the new states has been faced with searching for ways to adjust to new realities.
While there is a lot of comparative research available, especially for the western European states, which have a long tradition of development of their social states, there is also emerging research for the new member states of the European Union, which used to belong to the communist block. This research enables to have an overview of the different models of social states in Europe and makes possible to compare systems and policy solutions. From the former Yugoslav republics it is only Slovenia which has been integrated in comparative research, due to the fact that it is the only state from former Yugoslavia which has already joined the European Union. For the rest, there exists only sporadic data and knowledge. This aggravates the process of getting the whole picture over the region and based on that being able to have better understanding, to predict developments or to give recommendations for future policy actions.
This call for papers, therefore, invites researchers to apply for writing a paper which will provide a better understanding of the welfare states of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia. Researchers will be expected to write about the case of a single country and provide information about the political, socio-economic transformations in the last 20 years of (post-socialist) transition and describe the welfare systems (pension, health-care, labour market and social inclusion). Candidates should apply for writing a paper within one of the two main groups of papers:
1.The political transformations – these papers should provide data about the political context of the transition, especially focusing on the main political actors/parties/ elites (providing information about the importance of social issues on the political agendas, changes of parties in government and the influence of the parties in the shaping of the national social policy, looking at moments when reforms were undertaken within the welfare system), the role of other actors in society (such as trade unions, business elites, public administration, civil society, international organizations…), perceptions of the population (social values), the role of extraordinary circumstances (war, conflict, embargo..), the influence of international processes (global liberalization of markets, deregulation)…
2.The socio-economic transformations and the welfare system – these papers should be able to provide information about the main socio-economic indicators during the years of transition, describe the national system of social security (pension, health-care, unemployment protection, poverty reduction/social welfare) including the main reforms which were undertaken.
The selected candidates should be able to respond to concrete questions and provide data, according to given guidelines (Terms of Reference will be distributed in a later stage).
Eligibility criteria
Candidates should be:
- Individual researchers or members of an academic or a policy oriented institution/ organization;
- Holders of a PhD degree or PhD candidates;
- Interested in the themes of post-socialist transformations, political and/or socio-economic transition in South-East Europe, social policy.
Submission
If you are interested in participating in this inquiry, please submit in English by 25 February2010:
- an abstract of 400–600 words, with a clear indication of the country and the area (political OR socio-economic transformations) that the paper will deal with;
- CV;
- list of any previous publication on this or a related subject;
- full contact details.
Please send to Marija Stambolieva (email: marija.stambolieva@ gmail.comor stefan.dehnert@ fes.de)
In March/early April, successful candidates will be invited to submit a 5,000 to 7,000 word draft paper by 20 May 2010.
The authors will be invited to present their findings at a regional workshop to be held in Skopje, planned for early October 2010. The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung will cover travel and accommodation costs to the workshop as well as a fee of 1.000,- Euros for the writing and presentation of papers. The papers are envisaged to be published at a later stage of the project. They should, therefore, not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.
For further information, please contact Marija Stambolieva at: marija.stambolieva@ gmail.com
Please quote 10 Academic Resources Daily in your application to this opportunity!
