| This dissertation analyzes the Social Assistance Scheme and the Pension System that were built in post-conflict Kosovo. My analysis is built on the social welfare regime's capacity to actualize the rights of social citizenship. The Kosovo social welfare regime is dependent on means-testing, delivers meager benefits and has a low level decommodification. I contextualize the Kosovo regime into typologies developed by Richard Titmuss and Esping-Anderson, and determine that the system largely falls into the Liberal type. It is a safety-net of last resort and will do little to foster social citizenship.; The Kosovo conflict peaked in spring 1999 when NATO airstrikes pushed Yugoslav forces from the province. In the aftermath, the international community launched an extensive humanitarian relief operation that became the foundation for the development of a new social welfare regime. Dominated by expatriates from international NGOs, bilateral and multilateral agencies, the new social programs had a minimum of local input. The externally driven process was rapid and avoided divisive political debates. More critically, it had little democratic legitimacy, and was seen as a UN, rather than Kosovar project.; In order to determine the political effects of the social welfare program, my analysis is focused on local implementation in Skenderaj/Srbica, Malisheve/Malisevo, Prizren, and Kamenice/Kamenica municipalities. In Malisheve where there was high level of contestation between political parties, social workers escaped political manipulation and implemented the programs as designed. In Skenderaj, where one political party dominated, the local social welfare office was captured by political forces. Implementation followed local directives even when they conflicted with the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. In Prizren, urbanization and conflict-related displacement put unexpected stress on the local social welfare offices and increased antagonism between the centrally-led Center for Social Work and the municipal social workers. In Kamenice demographic stability contributed to the dampening of local conflicts through tacit manipulation of the social programs. Neither local social workers, nor municipal officials resisted this manipulation. The variations in implementation effected the capacity of social welfare regime to reduce poverty and create a sense of social citizenship. |
