“…Research on welfare in the region has included studies of the politics of social policy (Cook, 2007;Cox, 2007;Cox and Gallai, 2012;Offe, 1993;Orenstein, 2008;Potůček, 2008), changing pensions policies (Fultz, 2002;Orenstein, 2008;Szalai, 2004), the influence of international organisations on welfare policies in the region (Deacon and Hulse 1997;Orenstein and Haas 2005), welfare assistance (Braithwaite et al, 2000;Nelson, 2010;Ringold and Kasek, 2007), and empirical studies of the INTERSECTIONS. EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIETY AND POLITICS, 4 (1): 24-44. consequences of changing welfare provision for the poverty, income inequality and security of different social groups (Dudwick et al, 2005;EBRD, 2011;Emigh and Szelényi, 2001;Smith et al, 2008;Swain, 2011;Szalai, 2006). Further studies have focused on the forces shaping the emergence of post-socialist welfare provision in terms of long-term historical legacies (Cerami and Vanhuysee, 2009;Inglot, 2008) and the immediate political needs of post-socialist ruling political elites in managing the high costs of the economic transition, reducing welfare spending and dividing and pacifying competing social groups (Vanhuysse, 2006;Bohle and Greskovits, 2012).…”