Reforms of Social Insurance Governance in a Quasi-Bismarckian Welfare State: How Estonia Moved from Tripartism to Direct State Management

Continental welfare regimes in Western Europe have in last decades gone through a set of paradigmatic reforms that significantly altered the initial Bismarckian principles of social insurance and welfare governance. Existing research overwhelmingly concludes that social partners have rendered up their power to the governments that inter alia facilitated expansion of non-contributory social security instruments. This article asks to what extent this reform trajectory can be found in quasi-Bismarkian welfare states, which already initially lacked solid social dialogue and favoured market-oriented approach to the social security. Tracing the process of main social policy governance reforms in Estonia 2009-2019 we test the assumption that fiscal prudence is in quasi-Bismarkian regimes important similarly to the typical Bismarckian countries, yet – it is achieved by using different means. The main empirical finding is that the governments in Estonia acted much more autocratically and used social insurance funds to execute various priorities of government programs. Differently from full Bismarckian regimes, insurance contributions were neither lowered nor complemented by tax instruments. We discuss these findings in the light of the institutional theory and welfare state change in times of increasing EU pressure

Contemporary Welfare Regimes in Baltic States: Adapting Post-Communist Conditions to Post-Modern Challenges

This article revises the conventional approach to welfare state development in the post-communist world, according to which the main challenge for the Eastern European states is to catch up with Western European welfare regimes. The article argues that adjustment to the new social risks and volatile markets is more important today than the catching-up scenario. Based on social and labour market statistics for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the article analyses how the Baltic States are coping with this adjustment challenge. Adaptation to the post-modern conditions can be regarded as successful if the stability of welfare spending is accompanied by the expanding and flexible employment and by the stable or decreasing level of poverty. The findings suggest that the opportunities to increase the flexibility and equality of the labour market provided by the breakdown of the communist regime were not used. Instead, the Baltic welfare states continue to focus on protecting against the old social risks by combining neoliberal and post-communist principles. Poor performance in meeting new social risks poses a greater challenge for the post-communist welfare states than their lag in terms of gross welfare expenditure

IMPLEMENTATION OF JOINED-UP GOVERNANCE FOR SOLVING YOUTH EMPLOYABILITY ISSUES IN ESTONIA: MATCHING EU PRESSURES AND CIVIL SERVANTS’ PERCEPTIONS

This article focuses on the supply side of joined-up governance in youth policy. Theoretically, the article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of how the challenge for more intense cooperation has altered the roles of central government in local policy implementation, and how civil servants adapt to this new situation. Empirically, the analysis represents a case study of the provision of integrated labour market services for youth in Estonia, focusing on one-stop-shop Pathfinder service centres. We analyse the EU’s impact on pushing national governments to apply a joined-up approach in youth policy. We study how joined-up thinking is reflected in national policy strategies and institutional arrangements, and then compare this institutional framework to intersectoral cooperation practices and perceptions of civil servants toward joined-up governance for solving youth issues. The analysis revealed that joined-up governance in Estonia is supported by the relevant domestic and European policy strategies and is accepted by civil servants as a more efficient way to provide youth employability services. Although the readiness of actors for cooperation has been seen as the main premise for joined-up governance, there was also a clear expectation that cross-sectoral joined-up working should be initiated firstly at the ministerial level, as it would then be easily transited to the local level

Noorte kodanikukultuur muutuvas ühiskonnas

Uuringu eesmärk on analüüsida põhikooli eelviimase ja viimase klassi õpilaste teadmisi, väärtushoiakuid ja osalusvalmidust demokraatliku kodakondsuse valdkonnas. Kodakondsust tõlgendatakse uuringus sotsioloogilisest, mitte kitsalt õiguslikust perspektiivist lähtudes. Seega kuuluvad kodanikukompetentsuse alla ka teadmised sotsiaalsest sidususest ja kodanikuühiskonnast ning oskused toimida pluralistlikus keskkonnas. Põhieesmärgist lähtuvalt võib sõnastada kaks alaeesmärki. Esiteks, mõõta progressi Eesti üldhariduskooli ühiskonnaõpetuses. Teiseks, tuua välja varieeruvus ning olulised muutused noorte demokraatiaalastes hoiakutes

Infotehnoloogia eesti koolides: trendid ja väljakutsed

Uuringu "Tiiger luubis" (2000-2004) lõppraport.Projekti „Tiiger luubis” põhitaotluse võib kokku võtta märksõnadega „olukorra kaardistamiselt trendide mõõtmiseni”. Esimese küsitluse põhitaotlus oli määrata IKT kasutamise olukord koolides aastal 2000, kordusuuringuga 2004. a püüdsime analüüsida trende ja muutusi kooli arvutikasutuses ning avastada faktoreid, mis soodustavad (või vastupidi, takistavad) infotehnoloogilist innovatsiooni hariduses. Kuna kontseptuaalne lähenemine jäi mõlema küsitluse puhul samaks, siis on ühtne ka uurimuse põhieesmärk, s.o analüüsida infotehnoloogia otsest ning kaudset kaasatust üldhariduskooli õppeprotsessi. Otsese kaasatuse all mõistetakse arvutite kasutamist tundides ja tundide ettevalmistamisel nii õpilaste kui ka õpetajate poolt. Otsese kaasatuse mõõtmise kriteeriumid on IKT kasutamise intensiivsus, omandatud teadmised, oskused ja tööharjumused. Kaudset kaasatust hinnatakse õpilaste ning õpetajate väärtushoiakute ja arvamuste põhjal

New Citizens for Globalised Societies? Citizenship Education from a Comparative Perspective

Kein Abstract vorhanden No Abstract availabl

Noorte kodanikukultuur kümme aastat hiljem

Eesti tulemused IEA Rahvusvahelises kodanikuhariduse uuringus ICCS 2009.Rahvusvahelise kodanikuhariduse uuringu (ICCS 2009) eesmärk oli selgitada, kuidas ja mil määral on noored valmis võtma kodanikurolli. Seejuures lähtuti eeldusest, et kodanikurolli täitmiseks on vajalikud teadmised ja arusaamad valitsemisest ja kodanikuühiskonnast, samuti asjakohased hoiakud ja tegevused. Kuna tegu oli rahvusvahelise võrdlusuuringuga, siis analüüsiti ka riikide varieeruvust kodanikuõpetuse läbiviimisel ja kodanikuhariduse tulemite seost haridussüsteemi karakteristikutega