ABSTRACT
Throughout history, many different means of preventing or combatting poverty, insecurity in life and negative consequences of social contingencies have been in use: savings, family maintenance obligations, voluntary assistance by private persons, charity, civil liability, employers’ liability, private insurance on an individual or mutual basis, and social provision such as social insurance, social assistance, social compensation and non-contributory, non-means-tested benefits, that is demogrants. As regards the modern concept of social security, people have to distinguish social security as an objective and social security as an institutional pattern. As an approach to social protection, social assistance has always had a relatively minor role. The decision on whether a risk should be included in social insurance or covered by another branch of the system of social protection can only be made if there is first of all clarity above the functions of social insurance. These depend in particular on the objective aims of the other branches of social benefits and services.
