Modern Political Theory on the Effectiveness of Social Policy

The purpose of the article is to systematize approaches to assessing social policy measures. The article uses studies by Russian and foreign authors who have developed methods for measuring the effectiveness of social policy. In the existing literature, social policy was assessed by its impact on electoral support and reducing inequality, by the principles of its organization and its aims. Also, the issues of optimizing social programs in the context of slowing growth or contracting economies were studied. On the one hand, in terms of the ratio of funds spent on social programs and the results obtained, the Northern European countries are recognized in the literature as the most effective. On the other hand, the extensive government commitments typical for these countries, according to many researchers, cannot be maintained in the long term due to demographic and economic changes. The issue of effectiveness itself can be perceived differently depending on the values in society, among experts and decision makers. Proposals for improving the effectiveness of social policy in modern political theory therefore vary: some authors propose increasing redistribution in order to avoid increasing inequality, while others suggest reducing social spending to ensure their long-term sustainability.