Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Notes on Contributors -- Introduction -- 1 Towards a Working Class Society: the Russian Class Structure in the 1990s -- 2 Social Mobility in Russian Society -- 3 Labour Markets in Semi-Market Society -- 4 Change and Continuity in Russian Work Organization -- 5 Reproduction and Classes During Economic Crises -- 6 Mental Climate in Russia -- 7 Values in Contemporary Russian Society -- 8 Restoration of Class Society in Russia? -- Bibliography -- Index.

This volume is composed of interviews with entrepreneurs from Bulgaria, Estonia, Macedonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russian Karelia, and reveals both unique patterns and striking similarities in entrepreneurial activities during the administrative economy of socialism and the period of post-socialism. The book challenges simultaneously the common way of conceptualizing entrepreneurship, the commonly held belief that there were no entrepreneurs under socialism, and the commonly held idea of post-socialism as an antidote to socialist order. The stories of start-up entrepreneurs of the post-social

The peripheral (rural) regions in most countries face four vicious circles that contribute to their low level of development and inability to achieve the sustainable level of development. The first vicious circle is related to demography and is caused by the vulnerable population; very few young people and imbalance of women and men lead to poor economy, i.e. dominance of subsistence economy over production or trade; unfavorable age structure combined with poor services lead to very low birth rate and high levels of migration. The second vicious circle of remoteness is related to the fact that poor infrastructure does not attract businesses or new residents in the area, which contributes to high levels of migration as young and working-age population, especially families with young children, move out. The third vicious circle is related to education: the low level of education and skills mean that there is no labor force available in the region, which prevents business from entering the local market. Lack of employment means high poverty risk, which again accelerates migration from the rural areas. All these processes undermine the possibilities for local development simply because there is not enough human or economic capital to sustain rural development. These negative trends are not only typical for rural areas of Russia but have a strong impact on peripheral areas of many other post-socialist and European countries. The governments in Russia and European Union introduced various programs and measures to promote local development so that to overcome the negative consequences of all the mentioned vicious circles. In the first part of the article, the authors evaluate some local development efforts funded by the Ladoga Initiative project, successful and failed projects aimed at overcoming the vicious circles. In the second part of the article, the authors describe grant and priority programs introduced in Russia to support local development. ; Peer reviewed

The article discusses the importance and role of the middle classes in Russia by noting its peculiar feature as a "state-based class". A large part of Russian middle class is still working for the state and much of its growth has taken place in the public sector while the role of traditional bases for the middle class – the entrepreneurs – has remained peripheral. There are clear differences between the middle classes and the working class in many features of the work situation, incomes and housing, but the major anomaly is the uniformity of attitudes and social views of social classes. The shared concern about growing inequalities and emphasis on the primary role of the state in provision of welfare indicates the key elements of the social contract that most Russians revere. The regimes' efforts to tighten social and political control and raise nationalist fervour have not guaranteed popular support. It is clear that Russia is bound by the course that it has chosen to move towards late modernity with all its concomitant features and attempts to impose on society stricter controls meet with stiff resistance from various sectors of society that jeopardizes its political stability. ; Peer reviewed

Jouko Nikula – PhD, Senior Researcher, Finnish Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland. Email: jounikul@gmail.com
Nina Ivashinenko – Doktor Nauk in Economics, Professor, Head of Economic Sociology Department, Lobachevsky State University of N. Novgorod, Head of UNN-ISESP RAS Laboratory. Russian Federation. Email: nni@fsn.unn.ru

This article discusses on-going foster care reform in Russia and analyses possibilities for the evolution of partnerships between stakeholders. The role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the realisation of programmes related to child welfare reform is considered, revealing that social partnership is a form of collaborative action. In other words, drawing on the work of Sandra Waddock, social partnership involves interactions performed by various actors to achieve common goals. The main characteristics of social partnerships are that they are specialised, voluntary and collaborative, and their main goal is to try to solve a common problem. However, not all cooperation between public authorities, NGOs and business is a partnership; in fact a successful partnership is characterised by a variety of features. These include mutual trust, complementary strengths, reciprocal accountability, joint decision-making, clearly articulated goals, equitable distribution of costs and benefits, performance indicators, as well as mechanisms to measure and monitor performance and a clear delineation of responsibilities. The role of non-state actors is increasing in welfare and other social services due to adverse demographic trends and the diminishing economic base available to the state for delivering social services. The state's efforts to dismantle the former state-centred system of welfare has also resulted in the outsourcing of welfare responsibilities and services in child welfare to non-state actors. Alongside their growing role, many new questions have been raised about the quality of the NGOs' activities and their skills. Therefore, the expansion of NGOs' social functions potentially generates both opportunities and risks in the transformation of child welfare. Even if there are some green shoots of partnership between the public authorities and NGOs in this field, their relationship is not reciprocal. We argue that Russian NGOs need to improve their social status and the quality of their work to allow them to have their own voice when negotiating their relationship with different state actors.

"This book analyses social change in Russia, and in particular the development of a middle class, one of the most important social and political projects of Putin's administration"--

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Contributors -- Foreword -- 1 Introduction -- Research Background -- The Special Character of Kanepi -- Methodological Foundations -- Ethical Considerations -- The Structure of the Book and the Division of Labour Between the Researchers -- The Style of the Book -- Local and National Levels -- 2 The Historical Background of the Kolkhoz and the Municipality of Kanepi -- Introduction -- The Municipality of Kanepi -- The Development of Agriculture in the Municipality of Kanepi Before 1940 -- Agriculture in the Municipality of Kanepi in 1939 -- The Agricultural System of the Soviet Era -- The Termination of Small Production and the First Years of the Kolkhoz System From 1947-1950 -- The establishment of the kolkhozes and the decline of Agriculture -- The period of stabilisation -- The establishment of the Kanepi kolkhoz - progress and stagnation -- The Disintegration of the Kanepi Kolkhoz -- The results of the poll of 1990 -- The failure of the attempted reform in 1991 -- The last two years of the Kanepi kolkhoz 1991-1992 -- The Liquidation of the Kanepi Kolkhoz -- The Activities of the Reform Committee -- The Decisive Sessions -- The Distribution of the Kolkhoz Assets -- References -- 3 The Dissolution of Kanepi Kolkhoz -- The Structure of the Former Kolkhoz-centric System -- Kanepi Kolkhoz as a Part of the Soviet System -- The Dependence of Village Soviets on the Kolkhozes -- Kolkhoz Chairmen: Personifications of Local Power -- Technocratisation of Agriculture -- The Symbiosis of Large-scale and Small-scale Production in Kanepi -- The Patrimonial Character of the Kolkhoz System -- The Dictatorship of Milkers or Tractor Drivers" -- Floor-level Prosperity and an Indifferent Attitude towards Work