[MGSA-L] Rethinking Greece: Maria Petmesidou on the past and the future of the Greek welfare state

[Nikolas Nenedakis]

*Rethinking Greece: Maria Petmesidou on the past and the future of the
Greek welfare state*
http://www.greeknewsagenda.gr/index.php/interviews/rethinking-greece/6616-
petmesidou
Read our Rethinking Greece
<https://www.facebook.com/RethinkinGreece/?fref=mentions> interview with
Social Policy Professor Maria Petmesidou about "the various conditions in
Greece that "hardly favoured universalistic social citizenship values" and
created the “male breadwinner/familialist” pattern of the Greek welfare
system, characterized by the fragmentation, deep polarization and
particularism of social insurance systems, as well as the underdevelopment
of social care services" :

...Overall, Greece under-spent in social protection in terms of its wealth.
The crisis facilitated reforms towards system rationalization but did so
under conditions of severe spending cuts and receding public provision,
gravely harming the middle and lower-class. In a scenario of increasing
social polarization and sharp contraction of the middle class the move
towards a mass-supported comprehensive, rights-based welfare state is not
on the horizon. Neither are there any signs of reinvigoration of “Social
Europe” that could have a positive effect on the welfare state future in
the country. It is quite likely that disillusioned and impoverished strata
may switch political support to right-wing parties... In conclusion,
instead of the trodden path of a tourism-based economy, supplemented by low
value-added manufacturing, an alternative scenario would be a move towards
a robust industrial structure and innovation system, which would tap into
niche-markets for high-value added products, and could support a more
socially embedded form of flexibilization, combining flexibility with
security...

*FB*
https://www.facebook.com/RethinkinGreece/posts/1876582262653860
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