Comparative analysis of social services reform in Slovenia, Austria and Croatia : legal-administrative perspective

Babšek, Matej (author), Tomaževič, Nina (author), Kovač, Polonca (author)

Social services within predominantly service-based public administration are undergoing constant reforms in response to evolving social circumstances. These reforms should align with international and constitutional principles, including the rule of law, the welfare state, and public governance, and rely on the assessment of the gap between the current state of affairs and the desired situation. Reforms of the competences and organisation of social work institutions should be analysed in comparison with related systems, taking into account national and sector-specific characteristics. The objective of this research was to examine, from a legal-administrative perspective, the reforms of social services in three systems building on the Rechtsstaat tradition: Slovenia, Austria, and Croatia. A qualitative approach was employed as the most suitable for evaluative research. The methodology included a literature review, semi-structured interviews, relational content analysis of reform policy documents and public administration performance reports, and a systemic analysis of the codification of administrative procedure as the formal legal framework for providing social services. The results show that the reforms of social services in Slovenia and Croatia share similarities as they focus on the Weberian context, with all the challenges associated with such formalised reforms. In contrast, Austrian reforms, influenced by a hybrid public management, are more results-oriented and thus able to provide user-oriented services.

• Language: English
• Keywords: public administration reform, social services, weberianism, administrative procedures, comparative analysis
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FU - Faculty of Administration
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: Str. 321-340
• Numbering: Vol. 15, iss. 4
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-166401
• UDC: 342.9(497.4)(497.5)(436)
• ISSN on article: 1804-8285
• DOI: 10.2478/danb-2024-0018
• COBISS.SI-ID: 221687811
• Publication date in RUL: 10.01.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Danube
• Shortened title: Danube
• Publisher: European Association Comenius
• ISSN: 1804-8285
• COBISS.SI-ID: 523052825

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: reforma javne uprave, socialne storitve, weberjanstvo, upravni postopki, primerjalna analiza

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0093
• Name: Razvoj sistema učinkovite in uspešne javne uprave