When a crisis undermines quality public service provision: Romanian early childhood education and care through the SARS-Cov-2 epidemic

IF 1.5 Q2 POLITICAL SCIENCE
Borbála Kovács
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

What appeared to be the success of many Eastern European states in managing the toll of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic in its first round has been attributed to the early introduction of strict lockdown. However, erring on the side of caution came at a high price, with mixed economies of welfare shifting sometimes radically towards families, with the related costs unevenly distributed. Using the case of early childhood education and care (ECEC), the article explores the specifics of what has been a more general pattern in epidemic-induced social policy adaptation in the Romanian context: the overnight, radical and prolonged individualisation of service provision without the corresponding remaking of the cash nexus. It expands on the timeline of government decisions on family policy adaptations, including ECEC service provision. The article also reviews fragmented evidence about the impact of ECEC service suspension on the mixed economy of early years care. The article explains how and why the Romanian government was able to effectively suspend ECEC service delivery between March and September 2020 while keeping related financial arrangements practically unaltered, and do so without open protest. The Romanian case reveals how and why a family policy environment historically characterised by fragmented, selective and partially adequate provision, directly and indirectly maintaining the familialisation of young children’s care, acts as a catalyst for more of the same in hard times: fragmented, selective and only partially adequate intervention. In conceptual terms, the article suggests that familialist family policy is particularly sticky, more so in times of crisis than in ‘good’ times.
当危机破坏优质公共服务提供时:通过SARS-Cov-2流行的罗马尼亚幼儿教育和护理
许多东欧国家似乎成功地控制了第一轮SARS-Cov-2大流行造成的损失,这要归功于它们及早采取了严格的封锁措施。然而,谨慎的错误付出了高昂的代价,福利混合经济有时会从根本上转向家庭,相关成本分配不均。本文以幼儿教育和护理(ECEC)为例,探讨了在罗马尼亚情况下,流行病引起的社会政策适应的更普遍模式的具体情况:一夜之间,彻底和长期的个性化服务提供,而没有相应的现金关系重建。它扩展了政府在家庭政策调整方面的决定时间表,包括提供ECEC服务。文章还回顾了关于ECEC服务暂停对早期护理混合经济影响的零散证据。这篇文章解释了罗马尼亚政府如何以及为什么能够在2020年3月至9月期间有效地暂停ECEC服务的提供,同时保持相关的财务安排几乎没有改变,而且没有公开抗议。罗马尼亚的案例揭示了历史上以支离破碎、选择性和部分充分的提供为特征的家庭政策环境,如何以及为什么直接和间接地保持对幼儿照顾的熟悉,在困难时期成为更多相同的催化剂:支离破碎、选择性和部分充分的干预。从概念上讲,这篇文章表明,亲和主义的家庭政策特别棘手,在危机时期比在“好”时期更棘手。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Global Social Policy
Global Social Policy POLITICAL SCIENCE-
CiteScore
3.20
自引率
6.70%
发文量
41
期刊介绍: Global Social Policy is a fully peer-reviewed journal that advances the understanding of the impact of globalisation processes upon social policy and social development on the one hand, and the impact of social policy upon globalisation processes on the other hand. The journal analyses the contributions of a range of national and international actors, both governmental and non-governmental, to global social policy and social development discourse and practice. Global Social Policy publishes scholarly policy-oriented articles and reports that focus on aspects of social policy and social and human development as broadly defined in the context of globalisation be it in contemporary or historical contexts.
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