Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Politics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, Berlin School of Economics and Law, course: Public Management and Governance in the EU, language: English, abstract: Why does a comparison of different social security systems with in the European Union(EU) make sense? Social security systems have to change because the underlying conditions are changing: globalisation, technological innovation,the disappearance of borders in Europe and demographic development are challenges the social systems must respond to. Social systems have to adapt. But how and in what direction should they evolve: public administration or private insurance; financed through taxes or through voluntary contributions; large amount of benefit in order to ensure social peace and to streng then the consumer or low benefit to save money and to encourage selfactivity? Inorder to answer these and other questions it may be rewarding to examine the different social systems and to learn from the most successful ones.