The Changing Face of Welfare
18 June 2007
Sinan Gökçen
Exclusion from the labour market is one of the principal problems that Roma face in many European countries. Various studies conducted in Europe indicate that a great number of working-age Roma are unemployed. Discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes are amongst the fundamental reasons which bar Roma from the labour market. Consequently, many Roma depend on social assistance to attain a minimum standard of living and, at times, some Roma need state support to survive. Deductively, it can be argued that Roma will be amongst the most affected by any change in the structure of social assistance schemes, as well as any 'paradigm shift' regarding the welfare state principles. Nowadays, the tendency to restructure social assistance mechanisms and inject more "marketfriendly" features into them is gaining momentum in various European countries. The lack of equally vigorous measures to combat discrimination in access to the labour market as well as in access to social assistance schemes threatens to deepen the social exclusion of Roma and others in disadvantaged situations.
Social assistance schemes are one of the key instruments of the modern welfare state. The idea of redistributing resources to favour disadvantaged groups within society is regarded as a must in welfare so that there is social harmony and equality. In other words, welfare state policies aim at balancing the unfairness resulting from laissez-faire capitalism by transferring resources to the lower end of the income pyramid through various mechanisms and institutions. Therefore, the welfare state is an attempt to develop remedies for the stress created by capitalism without swerving radically from the capitalist system. As the remedial wand, the welfare state foresees an effective intervention of the public authority into the market mechanism.
One of the chief concerns of a welfare state is to integrate marginalised or disadvantaged groups into greater society. By doing so, the welfare state model strives to enact social justice, creating social equality within society on the one hand, and on the other hand increasing overall productivity and prosperity by recruiting excluded social groups into the labour and consumption market.
Historians trace the emergence of "welfare state" concept back to the introduction of social security measures by the German Empire's first Chancellor, Mr Otto von Bismarck. Of course, when Bismarck initiated these reforms in 1884, his main objective was to maintain order and status in the newly emerged German nation-state by controlling the powerful industrial workers, thus strengthening the Reich's muscle domestically, as well as internationally. However, Bismarck's scheme, despite its shortcomings is considered a pioneering attempt to bring institutional responsibility to the state for the redistribution of income, a task until then mostly carried out by civil society such as charity foundations, personal initiatives or religious institutions. The traumas of the Second World War period redefined economic, political and social priorities in Europe. The post-war era is the period in which the modern welfare state gained impetus as a model to which to aspire within the capitalist system.
Today, in the so-called post-industrial era, European welfare state systems face serious challenges. Globalisation and global competition force adjustments in economic parameters leading to the erosion of cumulative taxes. The demographic picture is changing due to low birth rates and increasing life expectancy. Immigration and transnational ties and confusion regarding the concept of citizenship generate new sociological debates also related to the welfare system, such as deciding who is 'in' and who is 'out'. As a result, many European countries have undertaken structural changes and remodelled their welfare systems.
The Lisbon Process reflects these concerns and tries to provide strategies to counter them at the European Union level, aiming to reform the Member States' welfare regimes. It targets higher employment rates, in tandem with higher productivity; with a particular emphasis on women and the elderly. However, the Lisbon Process does not include concrete references concerning the inclusion of other disadvantaged groups. Roma are amongst the forgotten parties. Furthermore, the Lisbon Process promotes a radical departure from traditional 'passive' welfare measures such as social assistance and introduces new mechanisms such as active labour market policies and flexible employment contracts. In this regard, the "burden of welfare" shifts from state to the individual. The Lisbon Strategy has been designed to strengthen competitiveness in the global arena. This is a justifiable concern; however, the end result should not prioritise market forces at the expense of basic security for individuals.
Active labour market policy (or activation policy) is one of the key components of the Lisbon Process. It intends to empower individuals through various opportunities to secure their inclusion in the labour market. While the idea sounds like a win-win situation for everyone, a closer look reveals its inherent flaws. These policies should potentially benefit many Roma directly, since exclusion from the labour market is one of the primary problems that Roma face.
This issue of Roma Rights presents various articles on how the changing dynamics of the welfare state affect Roma. In her article, Tara Bedard presents the results of recent ERRC research indicating that, in many instances, activation measures fail to achieve their goal due to a lack of adequate mechanisms targeting discriminatory employers and the poor quality of the activation measures offered to Roma and Travellers.
In a similar vein, Erika Szyszczak examines the "right" to social security in the European Union and portrays two conflicting trends in this domain: "On the one hand access to a minimum level of social protection is recognised as a fundamental right, at the EU and the national constitutional level. On the other hand traditional social protection schemes are increasingly threatened by the modernisation agenda." Finally, Larry Olomoofe explores the role of NGOs in enabling disadvantaged groups' access to social services, analyses the challenges that NGOs face in this regard, and questions the relations between civil society organisations and public authorities.
We hope that this edition of the Roma Rights Quarterly triggers further discussion about the changing dynamics of social assistance and how this evolution will impact Roma and other disadvantaged groups.
