Rethinking the Welfare State: Social Policies during the COVID-19 Pandemic and in the Post-pandemic Period

This study will examine the possible effects of COVID-19 on social policies. Welfare states have long faced economic, social, demographic, and environmental problems. The intense pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic on social policies -particularly healthcare and employment- is a major challenge for welfare states that are established through nation state formation and financed through social security premiums and economic growth. In this context, it is inevitable for the welfare regimes to be re-structured and for the state to collaborate more closely with other actors (the family, civil society, and the market) in the distribution of social welfare. In addition to the transformation on a national scale, there are regulations to be made regarding the distribution of social welfare on a global scale. The current COVID-19 pandemic requires considering the possibilities of a global welfare regime, which aims to reduce income inequalities and to achieve an equitable and democratic regime shaped by comprehensive regulations, and where global welfare is again distributed on a global scale.