德国社会保障制度

In Germany, system of social security was initiated in the eighties of the nineteenth century. Through development for more than a century, it has now become a rather sophisticated and perfect system. The guiding ideology of German social security system is to advocate support for economic vulnerables, protection from relatively great risk in daily life and commitment to equal social opportunity. These factors are regarded as the cornerstone of orderly development in a society or state. Besides, the emergence of "power society" under market economy should be avoided and efforts should be made to enable everyone to enjoy personal liberty and lead a life with dignity. Under this guiding ideology, social security is regarded as results yielded from coordination between the state and the public, citizens being positive copartners in the system rather than charity-receivers from the state. The practice accumulated for more than a century has proved that the establishment of system of social security in Germany is foresighted and has played an exemplary role for other countries. The scientific and rational nature of German system lies in its refusal to adopt the model of supply type represented by Britain and characterized by high degree of concentration and large proportion of subsidies in tax collection for the purpose of avoidance of poverty. Neither does Germany adopt the model of relief type represented by some quasi-developed states and characterized by members of community bearing responsibilities themselves while the state only plays a supplementary role for the purpose of guarantee of minimum living standard. German model provides clear division of social security responsibilities among the government, enterprise and individuals. In the meantime, the relation between responsibility, rights and interests is defined by means of social contracts, so to encourage people to work hard and pay insurance premium on their own initiative and to avoid lazy and dependent mentality. German system of social security has provided people with a stable expectation of social security. It is a system conducive to mitigate social conflicts and enhance social affinity. In our endeavors to establish and perfect our own system of social security, we can draw on German experience in this respect.