European Social Work After 1989

This book presents a unique analysis of the learning derived from East-West contacts in social work and reflects on the discipline's trans-national dimensions. The fundamental transformations in Europe subsequent to the revolutions of 1989 had a profound impact on social work in terms of raising sharply the profession's relationship with politics. The exchanges between western schools of Social Work and the emergent academic partner institutions in former Communist countries formed a valuable testing ground for the essential principles and competences of social work in terms of their universal scientific basis on the one hand and their regard for cultural and national values and contexts on the other. The chapters in this edited volume focus on aspects brought to the forefront as a result of East-West encounters, as well as issues facing other European national contexts in the present and future where cultural divisions have to be addressed and there are direct implications for training and practice in these changing contexts: Lithuanian social work's claim to professional autonomy vs. authoritarianism in popular and political culture Social work between civil society and the state - lessons for and from Hungary in a European context When Europe's East, West, North and South meet: learning from cross-country collaboration in creating an international social work master programme Nordic-Baltic cooperation in social work researcher education: A Finnish perspective on the impact on scientific, historical and linguistic similarities and differences Intra-national similarities and differences in social work and their significance for developing European dimensions of research and education Social work, political conflict and European society: reflections from Northern Ireland European Social Work After 1989: East-West Exchanges Between Universal Principles and Cultural Sensitivity is an invaluable resource for social work educators, social work practitioners in international fields, students of social work and social administration and policy, and any policy researcher with a comparative focus.