Social Policy and Human Rights

All modern societies are advanced welfare states. Therein social policy plays a pivotal role to further distributive justice. Modern welfare states dispose of a multi‐layered, complicated and complex system of social legislation. It encompasses welfare = social assistance and social security law = social insurance. Further elements are social compensation for victims of crime and war, as well as social subsidies for families, education, migrants, handicapped people or other members of vulnerable groups.

Modern societies are built on the rule of law. Legal rules and institutions are created by a legislative body. Social policy assumes, hence, a legal character: The welfare state of today represents the transition from a needs‐ to a rights‐based system. It represents the development from charity to entitlement.

Social legislation brought about institutions administered by independent public or private agencies operating on the basis of highly technical legal provisions and in full respect of the rule of law. So, welfare and social security stand for a substantial part of the law of today. The rules and institutions of social policy are not only created and structured by the law, but they also lead to corresponding individual rights. Therefore, a further question can be raised, on whether these rights have any substance and origin in the idea of human rights. Albrecht Weber devoted much energy on interpreting the developments initiated by social policy on the international level. So, it is an honour and pleasure to contribute to a liber amicorum for a good and “old” friend.

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Social Justice and the Welfare State: Institutions, Outcomes, and Attitudes in Comparative Perspective

Conclusion: Transformations of European Welfare States and Social Rights

Social Security

Notes

van Langendonck 1998, p. 477; van Langendonck 2003, p. 613; van Langendonck 2008; Riedel 2007; Leisering (2008), p. 21 speaks of “welfare internationalism”; Eichenhofer 2012; Mikkola 2010.

Iliopoulos‐Strangas 2010; cf. § 75 of the Constitution of Denmark; Preamble of the French Constitution of the IV. Republic (1946); Art. 4, 31 of the Italian Constitution; Art. 45 II of the Constitution of Ireland; Art. 58 and the following Articles of the Constitution of Portugal; Westerhäll 2010, p. 563; cf. Becker et al. 2010; as far as the right to education is concerned: Weber 2004, p. 693.

European Court of Human Rights, Application no. 40892/98, Koua Poirrez v. France (ECtHR 30 September 2003); Application no. 17371/90, Gaygusuz v. Austria (ECtHR 16 September 1996); Application no. 65731/01 and 65900/01, Stec and Others v. United Kingdom, (ECtHR 6 July 2005), para 51, 41 E.H.R.R., 295 Stec: “in the modern, democratic state, many individuals are, for all or part of their lives, completely dependent for survival on social security and welfare benefits. Many domestic legal systems recognise that such individuals require a degree of certainty and security, and provide for benefits to be paid‐ subject to the fulfilment of the conditions of eligibility – as of right”: Cousins 2009, p. 120.

German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), 1 BvL 1/09, 1 BvL 3/09, 1 BvL 4/09 (9 February 2010).

German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), 1 BvL 17/77 et al. (28 February 1980); 1 BvR 995/95, 1 BvR 2288/95, 1 BvR 2711/95 (14 July 1999).

German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), 1 BvR 323/51 et al. (17 December 1953); 1 BvL 97/78 (13 June 1979); 1 BvR 562/78 (27 January 1982); 1 BvR 35/82, 1 BvR 356/82, 1 BvR 794/82 (31 October 1984).

German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), 1 BvL 1/09, 1 BvL 3/09, 1 BvL 4/09 (9 February 2010); 1 BvL 10/10, 1 BvL 2/11 (18 July 2012).

Sen 1999, p. 3: “Development can be seen as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy”.

William 2007, p. 354: “taking liberty seriously thus provides good reason to restrict the extent of distributive principles”.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

1. Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany Dr. iur Dr. h.c Eberhard Eichenhofer

1. Dr. iur Dr. h.c Eberhard Eichenhofer