Creating Welfare States in Czechoslovakia and Hungary: Why Policymakers Borrow Ideas from the West

Political change in Eastern Europe meant that a policy reform was soon to follow. The initial expectation was that reform would stem from efforts to emulate the Western democratic countries, and that policymakers in Eastern Europe would borrow from the West. In this study it was found that in Czechoslovakia policymakers were attempting to borrow policies primarily from Britain and Sweden, whereas in Hungary the primary models were Germany and Austria. An explanation for this difference is that historical similarities in social-policy development structured the choice of countries, suggesting that historical trends have persisted despite the long period of Communist rule.