Shocking Mother Russia

by Chandler, Andrea

• ISBN13: 9780802089304
• ISBN10: 0802089305
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-11-07
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

Examining the reform process of the old age pension system in Russia, from its Soviet origins to the Putin era, Shocking Mother Russiaadds significantly to the growing body of literature on comparative social policy and the political challenges of pension reform. Andrea Chandler explains why Russia's old-age pension system went into decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, even though it was a prominent issue in the political arena at the outset of the post-communist transition. While tracing the roots of the system's difficulties to the Soviet Union's first efforts to establish a national social welfare system after 1917, Chandler nonetheless devotes the bulk of her study to the period from 1990 to 2001. While political factors impeded reform for much of this eleven-year period, ultimately Russia's striking policy reversals provide a case study for developing nations. In 1990, a new Russian pension law was adopted during the Soviet reform process of perestroika. The system was again significantly altered in 2001 when a market-reform-oriented package of pension legislation was passed. Shocking Mother Russiaplaces the Russian experience in comparative perspective, and suggests lessons for pension reform derived from analysis of the Russian case.

Author Biography

Andrea Chandler is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
1 Russia's Social Welfare Crisis in Theoretical Perspective	3	(21)
2 The Elderly in a Revolutionary Society: The Soviet Pension System, 1917-1956	24	(20)
3 Pensions and the Pressures of Democratization in the USSR under Perestroika, 1986-1990	44	(16)
4 The Origins of Post-Communist Russia's Pension Crisis, 1990-1993	60	(12)
5 Institutional Structure of the Russian Pension System, 1992-2001	72	(15)
6 The Politics of Pensions and the Evolution of Russian Parliamentarism, 1994-1999	87	(22)
7 Russian Laws on Old-Age Pensions and Veterans' Rights: Contending Understandings of Social Justice	109	(15)
8 The Evolution of Pension Reform in Russia, 1995-2001	124	(30)
9 Conclusion	154	(9)
Appendix A: Detailed List of Sources for Figures 6.1-6.2	163	(6)
Appendix B: Detailed List of Sources on Special Pension Benefits and Exemptions	169	(4)
Appendix C: Disputes over Finances	173	(4)
Notes	177	(48)
Bibliography	225	(14)
Index	239