This open access book maps and compares national social policies of socialist and post-socialist countries, examining designs, implementation, and outcomes. It analyses how the generosity of social policies – understood as the combination of their inclusiveness and the scope of benefits they offer – has been conceptualised in different socialist and post-socialist national contexts, how these conceptualisations have shaped the content of social policies, and finally, how the content of social policies has actually been implemented. Thus, the contributions include the ideational, de jure and de facto aspects of social policy in socialist and post-socialist contexts.

This open access book maps and compares national social policies of socialist and post-socialist countries, examining designs, implementation, and outcomes. It analyses how the generosity of social policies – understood as the combination of their inclusiveness and the scope of benefits they offer – has been conceptualised in different socialist and post-socialist national contexts, how these conceptualisations have shaped the content of social policies, and finally, how the content of social policies has actually been implemented. Thus, the contributions include the ideational, de jure and de facto aspects of social policy in socialist and post-socialist contexts.