The social quality policy: theory and international approaches in the context of the Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction task

Abstract

The paper presents the expediency of the formation and implementation of post-war Ukraine state policy under the basics of the social quality scientific concept, used to improve the social parameters of the European Union development. The authors discuss the general theoretical basis of the social quality concept, the essential milestones of its development, key foundations and concepts, and the approaches proposed by the UN Economic and Social Council, the UN Economic Commission for Europe, the International Labour Organization, the International Association on Social Quality to ensure modern societies’ social quality of life, its quantitative and qualitative assessment. Attention is focused on the expediency of the post-war introduction of the social quality approach into the system of state administration of Ukraine, which can help politicians and citizens to rethink the strategy of Ukrainian society development in the European direction based on socio-economic security, social cohesion, social inclusion, guaranteed social opportunities, and to root social values of equality, solidarity, social justice, and human dignity. The authors determined the relevance of the need to adapt the international approaches of social quality to the implementation in the functioning and development of Ukraine’s public administration system in the reconstruction of post-war Ukraine, focusing primarily on overcoming the consequences of the war. The paper shows the critical importance of the efforts that Ukraine has made since the beginning of the war to support the institutional and financial sustainability of the national social protection system and the implementation of state policy measures to promote employment and prevent the destruction of the national labour market. It is argued that the introduction into the system of public administration of post-war Ukraine of the concept of social quality adapted to domestic conditions should contribute to the “social contract” to gradually find a reasonable balance between two priorities: simultaneous increase of efforts to systematically eliminate threats of external aggression and accelerated restoration of the national socio-economic space on the principles of sustainable, inclusive development.