Sustaining the transition : the social safety net in postcommunist Europe

In the great transition of the postcommunist countries from central planning to market economies, the role of the social safety net is becoming increasingly controversial. The transition increased the demand for social support, but the level of benefits set in the communist era is already high and threatens to stifle future economic growth. This book assesses the past, present, and future of social policies in the 27 post-communist countries. Walter Conner describes social policy during the communist period and its legacy. Mark Kramer traces the evolution of social policy in Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Anders Aslund examines the role of social policy in Russia's economic transition. Scott Thomas summarizes the contributions of the West. Ethan Kapstein is Stassen Professor of International Peace at the Humphrey Institute and the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota. Michael Mandelbaum is director of the Project on East-West Relations at the Council on Foreign Relations and Christian A. Herter Professor of American Foreign Policy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Previously announced as Social Policy in Transition Economies