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A great leap towards liberalism? The Hungarian welfare state
Author(s) -
Lelkes Orsolya
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
international journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 1369-6866
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2397.00115
Subject(s) - typology , welfare state , welfare , liberalism , government (linguistics) , economics , state (computer science) , public economics , welfare capitalism , political science , economic system , market economy , sociology , law , linguistics , philosophy , algorithm , politics , anthropology , computer science
The article analyses the changing role of the Hungarian state by examining the principles and boundaries of government commitment in income maintenance. I test the hypothesis that the welfare regime is liberal and is becoming increasingly more so. The empirical analysis addresses three major issues: the reliance on universal schemes in family support, the nature of poor relief assistance, and the institutional structure of the pension system. I find that these different programs do not add up to constitute any specific type of welfare regime. Rather, the emerging, and still transitory welfare system appears ‘‘faceless’’. I claim that a static welfare typology cannot be applied to the Hungarian welfare system and therefore reject the liberal hypothesis.