Eureka! Institutional Repository

The term 'welfare state' refers to the type of the social policy of each country. The parameters that contribute to its formation include historical, economic, social and political influences. According to scholars, the models of Welfare States are described as "residual", "industrial", "institutional" (according to Titmus), "occupational", "universal" (according to Ferrera) and "liberal", "conservative" or "social democratic" (according to Andersen). In the Andersen’s typology, a model called "South European" has been added. The purpose of this literature review is to analyze and present the models of welfare states, with a more focused analysis on the South European’s models health policies. Greek and English literature was used, mainly articles from scientific journals, as well as books, but some online databases as well. In conclusion, the South European welfare state model does not exist in practice as an independent theoretical model, but it is a mixture of characteristics from all the others. It includes features from the Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Greek. It is the product of the efforts of the southern Europe countries , which have never been characterized by economic development similar to that of the northern regions. It’s aim is to protect citizens as much as possible against the social risks (sickness, old age, poverty, unemployment, etc.). Clearly Spain and Italy have achieved better social benefit and support programs for the weakest citizens. Portugal has seen great growth in recent decades, but not in line with the countries of western Europe, since it had had morbidity rates similar to those of the Third World up until the 1970s. In Greece starting from the 70’s considerable efforts have been made to develop a solid welfare state, but these were not accompanied by a corresponding sustainability studies. In today's era, after a 10-year global economic collapse and migration of war victims, the institution of the welfare state is in crisis, which requires a reshaping of its role and reform measures in order to continue to exist as an institution providing security and welfare to society.