Challenges to the Welfare State

Edited by Jolanta Aidukaite, Institute of Sociology at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Lithuania, Sven E.O. Hort, Formerly Professor of Sociology, Linnaeus University, Sweden and Professor of Social Welfare, Seoul National University, South Korea and Stein Kuhnle, Emeritus Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Norway and Emeritus Professor, the Hertie School, the University of Governance, Berlin, Germany

‘In this important book, the authors offer a rich and multifaceted comparative analysis of family policies and pension protection systems in the Baltic and Nordic countries. By exploring two rarely contrasted socioeconomic settings, the authors brilliantly uncover not only similarities and differences in welfare provision but also lay bare the changes and challenges now taking place in them.’

• Contents:Preface xii1 Introduction: Baltic and Nordic countries froma comparative perspective – family policies and pensionsin the era of ageing 1Jolanta Aidukaite, Sven E. O. Hort and Stein KuhnlePART I PERSPECTIVES ON FAMILY POLICY2 Family support systems in the Baltic and Nordic countries:an explorative overview 11Jolanta Aidukaite3 Demographic challenges of Europe in the new millennium:Swedish family policies as an answer to them 33Livia Sz. Oláh and Gerda Neyer4 Nordic family policy in the 2000s: from a ‘transfer-based’towards a ‘service-based’ family policy? 52Mia Hakovirta and Mikael Nygård5 Family policy support for the earner-carer andtraditional-family models in Lithuania and Sweden1 72Katharina Wesolowski, Sunnee Billingsley and Gerda Neyer6 The sustainability of family support systems in the 21stcentury: comparing Sweden and Lithuania 94Jolanta Aidukaite and Kristina Senkuviene7 Cost of childcare: evolution of regional diversity in Estonia 119Mare Ainsaar and Mona SõukandPART II PERSPECTIVES ON PENSION PROTECTIONIN THE ERA OF AGEING8 Ageing and the welfare state: welfare policies and attitudes in the Baltic and Nordic countries 137Jolanta Aidukaite, Sven E. O. Hort and Mare Ainsaar9 Gender inequalities in family leaves, employment andpensions in Finland 160Kati Kuitto and Susan Kuivalainen10 Approaches to minimum-income protection in old age:comparing the three Scandinavian countries 180Axel West Pedersen11 Pension systems as risk management: a case of the Baltic states 202Olga Rajevska12 Looking for an adequate and sustainable old-age pensionsystem: comparing Sweden and Lithuania 224Teodoras Medaiskis and Šarūnas Eirošius13 The inequality of public pension benefits for the elderlyusing Estonian data 248Magnus Piirits14 Stretching the canvas: beyond welfare state typologies tocapability and agency 267Barbara HobsonIndex