Social security in the USSR

Social security systems reflect the political and economic realities of their country. The history of the Soviet social security system lends support to this thesis. Its basic features were drawn during Stalin's forceful drive towards heavy industrialization and they remained pretty much the same over the years despite many changes, often of significant detail. It was a system financed by the state, providing earnings-related benefits to workers who fulfilled their work obligations and favouring those in the Communist Party, government and industry whose contribution was deemed to be most useful to the state and the economy. The absence of political freedom meant that open criticism of existing provisions was very difficult, while the emphasis of successive governments on defence and space exploration inevitably meant that state funds for social security suffered and with them the level and range of benefits. The collapse of the Soviet Union has resulted in widespread hardship among those relying on benefits and has created a situation where new social security systems are needed to reflect the new political and economic realities.     

National and Ethnographic Groups in Central Asia as Reflected in Ethnic Statistics (Part 1)

The history of the multinational Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which is now more than half a century long, is a history of development of genuine flourishing — economic, political, and cultural — of all the nations and peoples united in the framework of the world's first socialist state, on a basis of indissoluable unity and friendship.     

In This Issue

Abel Aganbegian, the author of our lead article in this issue of The Soviet Review, is widely regarded as a key economic adviser to the current Soviet leadership. In "The Program of Radical Restructuring," Aganbegian looks at current reform efforts in the USSR in the light of past, failed reforms. He argues that if radical economic reform is to succeed, it must be accompanied by changes "in other spheres of social life, above all, the political and ideological spheres," noting that reform efforts in the 1960s were undermined by the lack of progress in democratization and continued reliance on "administrative methods."     

The Sociological Measurement of the Russian Mentality

Research shows that there is strong continuity of attitudes between Soviet and post-Soviet society, and that this is true of all generations of Russians. Particular political views are subject to fluctuation, though, as economic and social conditions change.     

制度变迁与俄罗斯金融工业集团的形成

俄罗斯金融工业集团的兴起有着深刻的制度性根源。前苏联时期的高度集权制度和由此产生的官僚阶级是其形成的历史前提和阶级基础,20世纪80年代末期进行的经济体制改革则为其准备了经济基础。俄罗斯经济转型以后,金融工业集团的出现本质上是基于对不完善市场制度的修补,而激进改革政策则直接推动了它的建立和发展。另外,为了克服对转型策略选择的政治约束,俄罗斯政府实施的一系列扶持措施构成了对金融工业集团的重要外部支持。     

Trends in Pension Reform in the Russian Federation: A Bbrief Overview

The purpose of this paper is to briefly summarize the main trends in the pension reform process which has been carried out in the Russian Federation since the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The Russian Federation and the other former Soviet Republics, currently CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries, having undergone a transition from centrally planned to open-market economies, face a common challenge: the need to adapt their social security programmes to new political, economic and social realities.     

社会流动与政治信任：基于CGSS2006数据的实证研究

本文通过中国综合社会调查（CGSS2006）数据,详细分析了中国的社会流动对民众政治信任的影响。研究表明,中国30年的改革开放和经济发展为民众提供了大量向上流动的机会,并给他们带来改善生活的希望。人们所经历的向上代际流动和代内流动,以及对向上流动的感知与预期都显著增强了他们的政治信任。结果显示,社会经济发展为人们带来的向上流动的经历与期望有助于维护社会政治稳定。     

艾森豪威尔政府对发展援助政策的调整与美国冷战战略

秉承共和党传统理念的艾森豪威尔政府,在上任伊始即确定了对外经济政策的原则--"贸易而非援助",这一原则从一开始在美国政界就引起争议.随着苏联在发展中国家经济活动的活跃,艾森豪威尔政府从第一届政府后期开始调整发展援助政策.一方面逐渐加大了发展援助在整个对外援助中的比重;另一方面诉诸国际多边援助体系,建立了国际开发协会,并将发展援助的重点转向拉丁美洲国家.艾森豪威尔政府调整发展援助的主要动因还是出于对苏冷战的考虑,即稳定美国在发展中国家政治盟友的主导地位,同苏联争夺广阔的中间地带.     

The political economy of intergenerational income mobility in Singapore

Ng IYH. The political economy of intergenerational income mobility in Singapore This study used the Singapore National Youth Surveys of 2002 and 2010 to measure the intergenerational dependence of youths' income on their parents' income. The pooled estimate of 0.24 gave a scaled value of 0.44, which when compared internationally indicates an economy with moderately low intergenerational income mobility. The findings analysed against Singapore's political economy suggest that the 2009 recession, a widened safety net and immigration might have mitigated the negative effects that a developmental welfare state and rising inequality have on intergenerational mobility. The effects of Singapore's differentiated education system were unclear. However, despite the limitations in data and data availability in Asia, the findings provide useful points of departure for other countries. The findings also indicate the need for more extensive data and research on what effects the current economic and policy trends have on mobility.     

北极问题演化及其对世界政治经济格局影响的研究

近年来,随着北极地区的经济价值和战略地位逐渐升高,北极问题的世界政治经济色彩越来越浓厚。从与北极问题相关的国家和国际组织对国际航线和资源能源等领域的影响以及越来越多的国家制定北极相关战略政策等方面来看,北极问题对世界政治经济格局影响的范围不断扩大。同时,从美俄、东北亚地区、欧盟等国际地位的变化来看,北极问题对世界政治经济格局影响的程度也在不断加深。在此作用下,世界政治经济重心将会进一步向北转移。世界大国在未来都会与北极问题形成千丝万缕的联系,如果不抓住机会积极争取北极权益、不关注和重视北极问题的发展趋势,势必会丧失占据下一轮世界政治经济格局转变优势地位的机会。     

Privatization and some economic and social consequences: Higher incomes,greater inequalities

The past 14 years have witnessed profound political, social, and economic changes in the various countries that previously comprised the “Soviet bloc.” The antecedents to and the process of Hungarian privatization are examined in the present study, followed by an evaluation of some of the economic and social consequences of the systemic change. The change from one-party rule to a pluralistic democracy and from “goulash communism” to a market economy has been successful overall, but the necessary rationalization of production also resulted in growing inequalities in income and wealth and the appearance of social conflict.     

The Economics of the Arms Race

The current arms race between the two superpowers is but one manifestation of a permanent arms economy in each of those countries. The reasons for each country developing such arms economies are different however, with economic mechanisms being of crucial importance in the United States, and historical/ political reasons being of over-riding importance in the Soviet Union. For the rest of the world, the outcome of the growth of such arms economies has been catastrophic. Global inflation, serious misuse and under-employment of resources, and world trade imbalances have been the economic consequences. The social and moral outcomes, especially as they affect Third World countries, have been devastating.     

媒介批评视角下的肖洛霍夫形象

中国媒体对肖洛霍夫形象的构建,与中苏(俄)两国的政治、经济与文化关系密不可分。当两国关系处于和平友好阶段时,中国媒体对肖洛霍夫的态度就显得很亲善,甚至达到狂热崇拜的地步;一旦两国关系恶化,中国媒体对肖洛霍夫及其作品采取憎恶态度;只有两国关系正常化之后,媒介批评才归于理性与公正。     

Economic Collaboration Between the USSR and the Socialist Countries

It is already more than a quarter of a century since socialism has gone beyond the boundaries of a single country. As a result of the victory of the socialist revolution, in the postwar years in a number of countries in Europe, Asia, and subsequently in the western hemisphere as well — in Cuba — there developed a world socialist system: a social, economic, and political community of free and sovereign peoples following the road of socialism and communism, united by common interests and goals and by the close ties of international socialist solidarity. Its nucleus is the Soviet Union, which has amassed enormous experience in the construction of a new society.     

Interview group therapy: Process and effects 1

Abstract

This article identifies major forms of institutional racism in the United States today. It considers how taken together they form a web of oppression which obstructs economic, social, and political mobility for people of color while white people are issued passports of privilege. The implications of this enduring form of social inequality for social workers and other helping professionals are considered.     

俄罗斯主导法律观的演变及当代变革

在俄罗斯法治进程中,受国家制度变革的影响,不同时期主导性法律观存在较为明显的差异,从十月革命前到苏联时期,再到当代俄罗斯联邦,主导性法律观在历时态上展现出一个演变过程。宗教因素在一定程度上主导十月革命前法律观念,政治因素则成为苏联时期法律观念的风向标,当代俄罗斯受理性主义法律思想的影响,社会因素成为法律观念考虑的主要成分。与前两个阶段相比,当代俄罗斯法律观根本性的转变,基于理论基本立场变化,法律工具论色彩淡化,法律的阶级属性让位给社会性,人本化的法律价值取向正在形成。     

Economic crisis and migrants' employment: a view from Greece in comparative perspective

This paper explains and evaluates the effects of the developing crisis on the mobility of third-country nationals in Greece and other South European political economies. In doing so it explores the mobility of these migrants within the context of the informal economic activity in which many such migrants have been involved. The paper exposes the distance separating the law and the actual enforcement of fundamental employment- and mobility-related rights of irregular migrants in Greece and other southern European countries. It identifies the significance of the familistic welfare regime of the European South in framing migrants' characteristics and their consequent mobility in the region. The article argues that the familistic welfare regime of the host country is inextricably linked to migrants' employment trajectories and fundamentally affects the strategies that migrants have developed in order to protect themselves in lieu of effective rights regulation.     

边疆、边界与国家:韦伯的“农业-政治”研究的理论启发

本文以19世纪90年代中期德国的工业化和城市化过程为背景,以韦伯对"农业-政治"问题的讨论为核心,提出了国家的边疆、边界等问题,讨论人口、物资、资本等流动下的国家经济建设与政治结构。文中涉及的实质性问题包括：全球化、工业化背景之下的农村发展问题,国家建设与国家治理思路,以及国家边界的多重（政治、经济与文化）含义。本文认为,在法律、政治、经济等角度的国家观之外,可以建立一种社会取向的、以国民为核心的"国民-国家"观,即包容多元,建立共识,赋予国民以平等的基本权利,并建立国民共享权责和符合国民基本特质的政体制度。     

“官场+市场”与中国增长故事

本文运用和拓展了“官场+市场”理论,重新解析中国独具特色的经济增长机制以及政府与市场的互动模式。地方官员之间围绕着辖区经济发展的官场竞争嵌入在不同辖区企业之间的市场竞争之中,而辖区企业参与的市场竞争又嵌入在官场竞争之中。作为一种分析框架,“官场+市场”的理论贡献在于揭示了政府与市场的良性互动、政企的有效合作必备的三个条件,即内部的政治激励（“把事做对”）、外部的市场约束（“防止做坏事”）和必要的信息反馈（“做对的事”）。中国“官场+市场”的增长模式在总体上提供了这三个关键条件,在最积极的意义上实现了辖区内政治企业家与民间企业家精神的结合,政治精英与经济精英的结合,中国历史悠久的官僚政治传统与西方国家市场经济传统的结合,为我们揭示中国增长之谜开辟了新的视角。     

城市“二元政治”的异化与克服——地方政府与企业关系的视角

市民授权政府,政府服务市民,这是城市"二元政治"的本质和逻辑。在我国的城市发展进程中,出现了经济主体僭入政治系统并影响政治过程的现象,尤其是强势经济主体的诉求与行动冲击了城市"二元政治"的格局,甚至部分替代了政府与市民的政治空间。在政治主体的角度,这是城市"二元政治"异化的表现,克服的路径是区别政府和企业的行动者逻辑,彰显市民的作用与机制,以消弭经济主体过度活跃的消极后果,最终实现城市公共利益的目标。