Long-term Care in Central and South-Eastern Europe: Challenges and Perspectives in Addressing a 'New' Social Risk

Long-term care in Central and South-Eastern Europe (CSEE) has to date been largely neglected in the social policy literature. This article provides an examination of the context and the sources of reform of long-term care in CSEE, particularly Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. It focuses on studying developments in the light of the major principles underlying the transition process and discussing key features of current developments in terms of their potential for establishing a new paradigm in long-term care policies. The article argues that the realization of more comprehensive long-term care systems has been largely hindered by a failure of governments to set priorities in this sector, by the limitations civil society finds in bringing the issue into a broader public debate and by fears that new welfare schemes will substantially extend public expenditure obligations. The findings show that - similar to the situation in most other European countries - long-term care is a latecomer in welfare state development in CSEE. But ageing societies, growing care needs and broader socio-economic developments will also increasingly challenge traditional ways of organizing long-term care and create pressure to find new welfare approaches.