Beyond neoliberalism? Revisiting the welfare state in the Baltic states

Scholars of political economy have criticised the Baltic states’ transition to capitalism as socially ‘disembedded’ and shaped by a zealous form of neoliberalism. This article argues that the Baltic welfare states have experienced a more complex post-socialist transformation than suggested by the ‘neoliberal retrenchment’ narrative, which relies on the traditional definition of the welfare state and focuses solely on cash compensation for the ‘losers’ of transition. By uncovering higher investment in education, more generous labour market policies and a larger expansion of public sector employment than in the Visegrád countries, the article uncovers social investment oriented welfare states in the Baltic.