Beyond neoliberalism? Revisiting the welfare state in the Baltic States

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Baltijos valstybės; Baltijos šalių augimo modelis; Baltijos šalys (Baltic states); Gerovės valstybė; Institucinės ir ekonominės reformos; Lyginamasis tyrimas; Neoliberalizmas; Rinkos liberalizavimas; Višegrado šalys; Baltic States; Baltic growth model; Comparative interpretation; In the Baltic States; Institutional and economic reforms; Market liberalisation; Neoliberalism; Visegrad countries; Welfare state.

ENScholars of political economy have criticised the Baltic states’ transition to capitalism as socially ‘disembedded’ and shaped by a zealous form of neoliberalism. This article argues that the Baltic welfare states have experienced a more complex post-socialist transformation than suggested by the ‘neoliberal retrenchment’ narrative, which relies on the traditional definition of the welfare state and focuses solely on cash compensation for the ‘losers’ of transition. By uncovering higher investment in education, more generous labour market policies and a larger expansion of public sector employment than in the Visegrád countries, the article uncovers social investment oriented welfare states in the Baltic. [From the publication]

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