ABSTRACT
The landscape of social service suppliers is said to have become more ‘pluralistic’ which may lead to the end of corporatist arrangements in the long run. The majority of social services were provided by the state-owned Volkssolidaritat , a member of the loosely linked Paritatischer Wohlfahrtsverband. The welfare associations in East Germany act rather as quangos, fulfilling almost all public functions in the field of social services and focusing on an efficient provision of services. The specific shape of the German welfare state was determined in the Weimar era, where the ‘organisation of welfare associations became the associational complement of the centralised welfare state’. In spite of the established functions of the German welfare associations they are facing new challenges which threaten their power and influence. The majority of German welfare associations have implemented new mechanisms of business administration in order to cope with the new economic pressure.
