Social Policy, Inequality, and Poverty in post-Socialist Societies
WORKSHOP: Organised by CROP, Institute of Economics (Zagreb), Centre for Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy (CRCG) and the Norwegian University Centre in St. Petersburg.
More than a quarter of a century after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the beginning of the wars of the Yugoslav succession, we know relatively little about the diverse welfare trajectories of the countries in this region, all of which have been subject to fundamental economic, political and social transformations.
The time is now ripe for a systematic analysis of poverty and inequality in this region and how social policy has addressed these issues after the dramatic changes over the past three decades. The aim of the workshop will be to critically examine relevant data in order to provide explanations that could trigger new lines of thought on how to achieve improved well-being in post-socialist societies. Ideally, it will also contribute to theoretical and empirical evidence to sustain sound social policy.
The workshop will, inter alia, focus on questions such as:
- What are the developments with regard to poverty rates, and in particular child poverty?
- What are the causes and consequences of increasing inequality in these societies? How are they addressed?
- What policy innovations have there been with regard to pensions and child and family policy? What were their results?
- What role have transnational actors (international financial institutions, EU, UN, etc.) played in social policy change?
- How can the diverse welfare trajectories in the various countries and sub-regions be explained?
- What is the potential for transnational knowledge transfer in social policy and what are the lessons to be learned?
- How are these societies preparing for the SDG agenda with regard to poverty, inequality and sustainability?
The organisers are looking for papers that present case studies or comparative studies of countries among the former Soviet republics and Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe, or papers that examine the role of international actors in the region. Papers might focus on the Russian Federation, the Baltic States, Central Asia, Central, East and/or South Eastern Europe.
DEADLINE FOR PAPER PROPOSALS WAS 2 OCTOBER, 2016, AND IS NOW CLOSED.
