29rejected by popular vote in early 1990 and relations with the EU have
been framed by a bilateral approach, negotiated on a case by case basis.
Lithuania
Since the second half of the twentieth century, there have been great
changes in the geopolitical and economic situation of the country, as well
as changes in the welfare regime and cultural values. After the Second
World War, the State took responsibility for the welfare of citizens.
During Soviet rule, and despite the severe repression of civil liberties, the
welfare regime shared many features of so-called social democratic wel-
fare regimes. Full employment of men and women was promoted.
Measures of social assistance and support touched everyone’s life in the
form of categorical benefits, social services, or services of general interest.
On the other hand, the state took responsibility not only for the material
well-being of citizens but also strongly controlled family life at the level
of values and practices. Non-marital cohabitation, childbirth outside
wedlock, divorce, and other alternative family forms were not tolerated at
all and sometimes were even heavily sanctioned by the Communist party
or by State institutions. In addition, family formation until the 1990s
was strongly influenced by the traditions inherited from previous genera-
tions, who were socialised into Catholic values, a strong commitment to
the family and respect for elderly people.
Even under such conditions, which favour the traditional family
model, divorce rates and lone parent families started to increase rapidly
in the 1970s (Stankūnienė 1995 , 1997 ). One of the main reasons for this
was the involvement of women in the labour market. The principle of a
one hundred percent (i.e. full) employment rate in the Soviet Union
ensured labour market participation not only for most working-age men,
but also for women (Kanopiene 1995 , 1999 ). A widely developed child-
care system created the conditions for reconciling work and family duties,
and almost all children attended preschool childcare institutions
(Stankūnienė 1995 : 243–253). This meant that some family functions
were transferred to State institutions. Such trends are common to most
Western countries following industrialisation and urbanisation (Burgess
Contextualising Personal Networks Across Birth Cohorts...