State Social Policy and Social Expenditure in Central and Eastern Europe

Introduction

Social policy pursued in the transition period to date can be divided into two phases. The first phase covers the times of economic crisis on the onset of transition period. Social policy in that time created, on the one hand, new instruments replacing those from the period of real socialism, which were subject to liquidation or limitations. On the other hand social policy pursued then soothed new social problems caused by economic crisis. In most countries the second path of changes was followed, except for the Czech Republic, where creation of new instruments and social sphere institutions was considerably more distinct.