Routledge Attitudes, Poverty and Agency in Russia and Ukraine

One of the main ideas behind this book was to trace continuities from the Soviet time to post-Soviet Russia. There are many similarities between Russia and Ukraine, indicating such a continuation. Russia and Ukraine had a lot in common in terms of culture, language and history, partly also because of their common origin. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, however, the two independent countries chose different routes of development. This makes it possible to distinguish between the effects of politics/reforms on the one hand, and the impacts from the Soviet system on the other. After some more or less chaotic development paths in the 1990s, showing clear differences between the two countries, and before the contemporary conflict broke out in Eastern Ukraine (2013), they had once again more similarities in terms of political leadership and policies in general. The chapters in this book focus on Ukraine and on two regions in Russia: Nizhny Novgorod and Archangelsk. Contributors look at attitudes towards poverty and poor people; strategies of the poor; and policies against poverty. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe. About the Author Ann-Mari Sätre is Associate Professor in Economics, and a senior lecturer/researcher, at the Centre of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden. She specializes in the structure and performance of the Soviet/Russian economy. Her current research focuses on poverty, local development, and women’s work in Russia. Ildikó Asztalos Morell, is an Associate Professor in Sociology at Mälardalen University, Sweden. She is also a senior research fellow at the Centre of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden. Her research interests include gender and economic transition during and after state socialism, welfare systems, and rural transition, with a focus on multiple marginalities in Hungary.