Introduction: The Russian Welfare State in a Time of Economic Stagnation

Abstract

This Special Issue is devoted to Russia's welfare state during the years of economic stagnation that began in 2013. Twelve experts assess social conditions and reforms in poverty, labor market, pension, housing and education policies. They show that social mobility has stagnated in conditions of deep inequality and just-above-poverty incomes for many. Innovative labor market and anti-poverty policies are hampered by low productivity and wages, both features of an oligarchic economic model that blocks competition and development. Welfare commitments heavily burden the state budget, producing reforms that transfer costs to users. The authors find that popular protests have forced government to partially mitigate these reforms. Putin's government appears trapped between oligarchic economic interests and popular expectations for welfare. The final article compares China's comparatively successful welfare trajectories with those of Russia, and proposes an agenda for further research.

Populism and Social Policy: A Challenge to Neoliberalism, or a Complement to It?

“…Are those policy blends harmonious, or do they contain inherent contradictions? Cook and co-authors (2019, 294–5) argued that Putin’s social policy has tried to balance an appearance of responsiveness to the welfare demands of key groups while pursuing neoliberal economic policies and trying to reduce budget expenditures, and this has not met with many concrete results. Indeed, it has triggered protests when cutbacks are perceived.…”

Exploring Varieties of Governance in Russia: In Search of Theoretical Frameworks

“…In these sectors, key decisions are elaborated and implemented by a tiny group of well-qualified technocrats under strong political patronage, and financial and macroeconomic stability as such is a major priority of Russia's top leadership (Gel'man & Starodubtsev 2016;Aleksashenko 2018). By contrast, social policies in Russia are largely decentralised, not considered a top priority of the political leadership, and their conduct as well as micromanagement heavily depends upon a constellation of actors and their influence both nationally and sub-nationally, while the engagement of societal actors in this domain is still sporadic and poorly organised (Wengle & Rasell 2008;Cook et al 2019). In a similar way, the comparison between effects of leadership in two large Russian stateowned companies, Sberbank and Russian Railways, made by Gel'man in this collection, reveals a similar trend.…”