Paradoxes of Agency: Democracy and Welfare in Russia

Abstract

It is difficult to overstate the social crisis that emerged as a result of the Russian transition from a socialist system to a market economy.1 At the same time, the old welfare institutions are rusting and the emergent need for new solutions is evident. The creation of a new model of the country's welfare state is one of the most comprehensive unresolved strategic tasks of post-communist Russia. In this article, our intention is to propose an explanation for the contemporary Russian welfare model that is in the process of formation.Since the collapse of the communist regime, Russian welfare structures have undergone constant reform and the state's social responsibilities have shifted back and forth among various governmental levels.2 After the somewhat chaotic Yeltsin years, the Putin administration has increasingly emphasized welfare questions. Improving the quality of life of citizens has been one of the primary targets of the budget surplus that emerged thanks to the high price of oil on the international market. This budget surplus grew until the global financial crisis of 2008, which hit Russia hard. However, the Russian government has continued its commitment to welfare.In short, since 2005 welfare-related questions have been at the top of the Russian federal government's agenda, with some concrete investments in welfare. At the same time, poverty rates have declined considerably and inequality has stabilized.3 Yet, the overall picture does not look as promising as one would perhaps assume after such substantial attention. In this article, we argue that Russian welfare policy is highly paradoxical. Despite the economic growth, and lots of talk about prioritizing social policy, Russia has not been able to develop a systematic approach to welfare and has not even addressed the major welfare challenges, as Figure 1 illustrates.Figure 1 illustrates the pathways that certain countries have taken in terms of economic and social development. The horizontal axis shows GDP per capita in both figures. The vertical axis shows life expectancy at birth for men in the top panel and the infant mortality rate in the bottom panel. The lines illustrate the changes that have taken place in each of the countries between 1990 and 2012. Russian men have alternated betwen having descending living standards and decreasing life expectancy during 1990s until the early 2000s. The year 2005, which is when the National Priority Projects for improving the quality of life were introduced, marked a positive turn. Compared to other countries, however, the situation of Russian men changed little over that 22-year period. Life expectancy is only slightly higher than what it was in 1990, although GDP per capita has improved substantially. Compared to Brazil and Poland, countries with similar levels of per capita GDP, Russia's life expectancy for men is five to seven years lower, even though those other countries started with similar conditions in the 1990s. A clear paradox in comparative terms is that despite rapid economic growth during the 2000s, the life expectancy of Russian men has not improved significantly. At the same time, however, infant mortality has been constantly in decline after being prioritized by the government. This contrast emphasizes the failure of Russian welfare policy to address the key problem of high male mortality.Consequently, our main argument is not that the Russian welfare system has failed completely, but that the Russian welfare model is highly incoherent. In this article, we suggest an explanation for this policy incoherence. We argue that, in the absence of a mechanism encouraging democratic accountability and the articulation of interests, Russian welfare policy is produced by several somewhat disparate processes; namely, incremental bureaucratic practices, priority setting by the government, event-driven agency, and agency at the regional and local levels. We develop this argument by taking various policy outcomes and tracking them to their sources. …