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
The debates of the left on Yugoslavia
Four major tendencies are introduced concerning the causes of the Balkan war, and the judgment about the participants of the conflict. All these approaches have their weaknesses, although all they are able to grasp some important elements of reality. Rethinking of the situation on the Balkans requires not simply an assessment of the former Yugoslav republics, but also a general overview of the role of international institutions, and the so-called New World Orde.
Debt and war in Yugoslavia
An unreported factor of the causes of the Balkan war is the foreign indebtedness of Yugoslavia. Since the early 1970s, the debt problem, along with the cures recommended by the IMF, regenerated the differentiation between different regions of the country, and led to an unresolvable distributional conflict between the republics. The final result could not be else but the break-down of the Yugoslav economy, and the break-up of the federal stat.
Hungarian social policy from gender point of view
The state socialist regime incorporated the so-called "women's question" into its social policy, but that policy was locked into the realm of patronizing women and imposing moral duties on them. The new conservative government have made some steps backwards from this stage. Progress in these questions requires an open debate about the role of the rights of men and women in society, and new social contracts between different groups of societ.
The Hungarian Forum of Child Interests
In connection with the article on children's rights, the author describes briefly the history and field of activities of this civic initiative.