Solidarity and Justice as a Basis of a Social State

Hrvatska je po Ustavu socijalna država, ali socijalna je država u krizi, posebice kao „država blagostanja“. Preuzela je deklarativno terete koje ne može u praksi obavljati. Potrebne su temeljite promjene. Iz socijalnog nauka Crkve pružaju se perspektive za mogući preobražaj: antropološko polazište (čovjek je kao osoba i njegova socijalnost) te načela koja odatle proizlaze: solidarnost i pravda, opće dobro, supsidijarnost i participacija. Od posebne je važnosti dobro shvatiti i pravilno primijeniti načela solidarnosti i pravde/pravednosti. Biblijski temelji i kršćanska tradicija, a također i suvremeni razvoj Crkve u Latinskoj Americi i u SAD, govore o „preferencionalnoj opciji za siromašne“ kao pokazatelja socijalne pravde. Čini se da bi se u tom smislu moglo protumačiti i poimanje pravde kao „fairness“ u Johna Rawlsa, unatoč brojnim ogradama. Temeljita promjena gospodarsko-socijalnog sustava zahtijeva brojne preinake u teoriji i praksi: opća namjena materijalnih dobara, „socijalna hipoteka“ nad privatnim vlasništvom, promjene u poimanju rada, supsidijarnost i primjerena „demokratičnost“ u gospodarstvu itd. Dosadašnji model „države blagostanja“ je doista, izgleda, u prepravljivoj krizi, ali socijalna država mora ostati, uz nužne promjene, premda bile goleme i konkretna rješenja ne baš posve jasna i sigurna. No već ima nekih prilično uvjerljivih prijedloga, barem za početak, ali nedostaje politička volja.Any social state is nowadays faces with enormous problems, particularly when regarded as a „welfare state“ due to the different types of social security. We must distinguish a „welfare state“, established as a concrete model in Europe in the wake of World War II, as opposed to the „social state“, that it should be, so that it fulfills social function in a modern and complex, pluralistic and democratic society. While the first model is obviously in an irreparable crisis, the social state is a necessity that has to survive in order for a state to accomplish its task to society. Solidarity and justice are the essential elemets of any social state. In order to be properly understood and implemented, they will depend on the image of Man and his nature on which a state system is based. In the perspective of Christian humanism and the social teaching of the Church, this anthropological starting point includes the following guidlines: dignity of man as a person and his rights, both his individual and social solidarity principles (based on justice) and the common good, subsidiarity and participation. Solidarity in a state rests upon the common human nature of its members and it excludes any discriminaiton. However, in the economic and social sense some differences are unavoidable. Since the last century, the question of „social justice“ has been raised more often as part of general justice, aimed at justifyng ethically some differences and not allowing others, without restricting man\u27s freedom and initative in the economic and social area. It is difficult to have both equality and freedom. These are the basic values in modern democracies but political equality needs to be extended to both the social and the economic field in a just way. It ought to be done on the basis of social justice. In order for social justice not to be an unspecified formal category, our biblical and Christian tradition can contribute with their learnings that attitudes towards the poor, the so called basic and „preferential option for the poor“ (an expression which includes all the weaker and peripheral social strata) are the best manifestations of a social state. In the formal social teachings of the Church it has nowadays been formally pointed out, particularly in Latin America and in the Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishops in USA. It also is mentioned in the social encyclical letters of John Paul II. Special care for the poor promotes at the same time the wellbeing of the whole society. The concept of „fairness“ of John Rawls can be brought into accord with such an attitude towards justice