Southern European Welfare Systems in Transition

Abstract

This chapter examines the idea that a distinct Southern European welfare model exists within European social protection systems. It focuses on the core social protection pillars: pensions, labor market policies, social assistance, health care, social care, and family policies. The chapter looks at the reforms in welfare systems in Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Greece. In the early 1980s, Portugal and Greece still presented an underdeveloped social protection system, whereas Spain had a semi-developed one. Only Italy had a relatively mature welfare state, mostly because of the time lag in both full industrialization and political authoritarianism, which lasted until the 1970s in Greece, Portugal, and Spain, in contrast to the 1940s democratic transition in Italy. The discussion provides a comparative assessment of welfare state change in these four Southern European countries. Furthermore, it explores the welfare states' responses to multiple crises. The chapter underscores that although all four countries shared some basic common elements in the past, they followed different paths of development and modernization of their social protection architectures up to the 2007–2008 crisis.