Introduction

The problem of reconciling the demands on both the social and economic effectiveness of the social security systems in the transforming post-communist countries has often been pointed out, along with the importance attached to finding a solution (for example, Barr, 1994; Offe, 1996; Standing, 1996; Ferge, 1997; Kramer, 1997). Adequate reduction of poverty and social exclusion is essential for securing long-term public support for – and the legitimacy of – the political and economic changes, as well as for maintaining political stability. However, it is also necessary to reduce non-investment budgetary spending (including spending on social systems), and necessary to accumulate available resources to support investment and economic growth. In addition to these objective factors, political and ideological factors are of specific importance. Departure from collective arrangements commanded broad support, especially at the beginning of the transformation, and neoliberal ideology has had an exceptional influence on the reconstruction of social system strategies in the countries of Central Europe (in the Czech Republic, for example, it was reflected in the requirement of ‘teaching citizens self-responsibility’, which was also applied to the system of social security).

The tension that exists in this dilemma of conflicting expectations related to the increasing social security system. While the new political elite could take advantage of their strong political credit at the beginning of the transformation, and utilise it as a “political window of opportunity” (Kramer, 1997, p 50) to take radical steps affecting the social security area, for example, they have gradually been forced to pay increasing attention to the social and political costs of transitional measures. However, practical political considerations have often made the Czech government adhere to time serving solutions. With the vision of economic prosperity fading, it might be expected that Czech voters’ willingness to accept and tolerate new risks would also fade. However, expectations and demands regarding compensation for such risks seem in fact to be growing among the population (IVVM, 1998). In this context, analyses of the legitimacy of social policy are important.

With regard to such analyses, there are at least two key distinctions that have to be pointed out.