The author of this article, the new editor-in-chief of our periodical discusses the possibilities of social democracy: namely, whether the­re is an alternative offered by the social democratic model for East and Central Europe? Analysing the trends that exist in the literature of this theme, he draws the conclusion that the time of the welfare state has come to an end. He separates the three different models of the Welfare State (the American, the German and the Scandina­vian). He discusses the economic causes of the collapse of the welfare state and points out that a new c