Tiltai

In the article, the activities of presidents in the creation of welfare states are analysed. The main factors behind successful effectiveness in the creation of the welfare state are: public opinion towards the president, his/her individual philosophy, clear communication, and relations with political parties. The case of Gitanas Nausėda, the President of the Republic of Lithuania, with his vision of the creation of the welfare state as the main aim of governance and social rights, is presented in the article. The role of President Nausėda is significant because of the proposals and changes he has inititated. The president not only supports the welfare state, but also suggests concrete proposals for changes to the tax environment in the country, improving social security conditions and conditions for the disabled, enforcing equal opportunities, etc.

Regarded as part of the cultural heritage, Confucianism and its principles play a major role in shaping the welfare state and the development of social welfare in the East Asia region. This article aims to analyse the expression and influence of Confucianism on the formation of the welfare state in the East Asia region. The Confucian welfare state has been shown to be characterised by low state intervention and investment in social welfare, relatively strong family ties, an emphasis on family responsibilities and duties in solving social problems, familialism, patriarchal hierarchy, etc. The principles of Confucianism promote a three-tier system of social assistance that includes family, community and governmental layers, in descending order of priority. In the article, the author provides an analysis of scientific literature and foreign research material, and uses synthesis and descriptive analytical methods.

The aim of this article is to identify and analyse welfare state models and their features in East and Southeast Asia. With this in mind, the article examines welfare state models in East and Southeast Asia and their characteristics. Different attempts to define the welfare state systems of East and Southeast Asia are provided, as well as a comparison with G. Esping-Andersen’s typology of three models. The characteristics of the welfare states of East and Southeast Asia are distinguished, such as the influence of Confucianism, productivity, the role of the family in the field of social welfare, and the influence of politics and the economy on the development of the welfare state. The article uses methods of analysis of scientific literature, expert evaluation, synthesis, descriptive analysis and comparative analysis.

The essence of the “Swedish socialism” created in the 20th century lies in “democratic functional socialism”. During the last 30 years, even after having refused part of its elements, it remains the foundation of the Swedish welfare state, and historically the name of the “Swedish socialism” is mostly related to the famous Swedish and global figure of the smart political powers, social democrat Olof Palme. The article reviews the features of the biography of Olof Palme and his both theoretical and practical activity opting for social justice and by creating a welfare state in Sweden by the means of “democratic functional socialism”. Olof Palme was also an advocate of human rights and freedoms, neutrality of small countries, an international mediator, an advocate of nuclear disarmament policy and a severe critic of neo-liberal ideas.

In this article are presented images of Norway-Sweden depicted in internet memes collected on social network Facebook. For this research are collected 149 memes in total. The material is publicated from 2017 january until 2018 april in Facebook and collected from January 2018 until april 2018. This research helps to understand the specific of relations between neighbor countries, also depicts the view of society itself and neighbor country, different and identical assessments to current issues and the events of historical periods.