Family Policy in Post-War Countries: Conclusions for Ukraine

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the experience of implementing family policy in countries where, at the same time, military actions took place on their own territory and the demographic behaviour of the population is close to that of Ukrainians. The relevance is due to the existence of significant challenges for the demographic and socio-economic development of Ukraine, which have intensified as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The war intensifies depopulation against the backdrop of decline in the quality of life and increases the migratory outflow of the population. Family policy has the potential to mitigate demographic challenges. Studying the experience of its implementation in countries that have gone through heavy military operations on their own territory and have similar demographic behaviour of the population can contribute to the formation of vision for the development of family policy in Ukraine. The cases of wars and post-war reconstruction of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were determined to be the most comparable. The purpose of the paper is to study the experience of family policy in countries that had the wars on their own territory and to determine the possibilities of implementing their experience in Ukraine. The work uses the following methods: comparison, generalization and induction, historical analogy and systemic approach, critical assessment of scientific achievements in the relevant field, elements of graphic analysis and comparative legal analysis, abstract-logical method. A set of statistical indicators used in the article is based on the materials of Eurostat, OECD Family Database, World Bank Open Data, the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, scientific publications on the subject. The novelty of the work consists in supplementing ideas about the possibilities and consequences of the implementation of family policy in post-war conditions, as well as the possibilities of using the experience of other countries in the conditions of post-war recovery. It is substantiated that the development of the family policy of the European countries that experienced hostilities on their own territory took place in the conditions of a low level of funding, most of the planned instruments were not implemented, the documented goals regarding fertility (quite ambitious) were not achieved. The post-war fertility in the more economically successful Croatia, after the war-induced fluctuations and subsequent decline, stabilized at a higher level than in the poorer Bosnia and Herzegovina, although the pre-war situation was the opposite. The low level of family policy funding, low preschool enrollment rate, lack of significant childbirth payments, difficulties with the opportunities of mothers in the labour market, spread of gender stereotypes are characteristic of the considered countries. The development of family policy in the context of postwar recovery ultimately leads to attempts to develop a comprehensive family policy with an emphasis on childcare services, the spread of gender equality and support for working parents.