Suchergebnisse

THE SOCIAL POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE RUSSIAN ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION POSE CHALLENGES UNPRECEDENTED EITHER IN COMMUNIST OR WESTERN CAPITALIST STATES. THE DEEP CRISIS INHERENT IN THE COLLAPSE OF THE CENTRALLY PLANNED ECONOMIC SYSTEM, COMBINED WITH MAJOR SYSTEMIC CHANGE, HAS RESULTED IN MASSIVE ECONOMIC DECLINE AND SOCIAL HARDSHIP. COMPLICATED BY THE EFFECTS OF WAGE AND PRICE LIBERALIZATION, THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF RUSSIA'S MARKET-ORIENTED TRANSITION INVOLVE A GENERAL DECLINE IN THE STANDARD AND QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THE MAJORITY OF CITIZENS. IN ADDITION, THERE ARE GROWING INCOME DISPARITIES, UNEMPLOYMENT, AND THE EMERGENCE OF NEW POVERTY GROUPS. ALTHOUGH THE SCOPE OF THE TASK FACING RUSSIA'S SOCIAL POLICY MAKERS IS UNIQUE, RECENT EXPERIENCES IN SOME LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES MAY PROVIDE USEFUL GUIDELINES.

Die Stabilisierungs- und Anpassungsprozesse im Zuge der marktorientierten Transformation haben zu einer tiefgreifenden sozialen Krise in Rußland geführt. Das aus der Sowjetära weitgehend unverändert übernommene System der sozialen Sicherung (Krankenversicherung, Arbeitslosenversicherung, Rentenversicherung) steht unter starkem finanziellen Druck und wird in seiner Leistungsfähigkeit darüberhinaus von administrativen Defiziten geplagt. Gleichwohl ist es der Rentenversicherung bislang gelungen, ein - wenn auch niedriges - Niveau der Existenzsicherung für Rentner aufrechtzuerhalten. Dies trifft jedoch nicht für andere Zweige der sozialen Sicherung wie Familienhilfe oder Sozialhilfe zu. Das Armutsproblem in Rußland betrifft vor allem Menschen in erwerbsfähigem Alter. Die Probleme der sozialen Sicherung in Rußland entsprechen in vielen Aspekten der Situation in lateinamerikanischen Ländern. Armut und sinkender Lebensstandard unterminieren die Unterstützung der Bevölkerung für die Reformpolitik. Gefordert ist eine tiefgreifende, jedoch schrittweise vorgehende Reform des Systems der sozialen Sicherung. (BIOst-Wpt)

Die soziale Sicherung ist ein Bereich, der im Rahmen der Transformationsdiskussion zunehmend Eingang findet, da man zu der Einsicht gelangt ist, daß es einer sozialen Abfederung der Reformen bedarf. Betrachtet man das System der sozialen Sicherung in Rußland, so stellt man allerdings fest, daß es einer solchen Aufgabe überhaupt nicht gewachsen ist. In dem vorliegenden Bericht werden die bisherigen Entwicklungen im sozialen Bereich vor dem Hintergrund der Transformation dargestellt. Dabei wird zunächst auf die Struktur der sozialen Sicherung allgemein eingegangen. Bei der Darstellung der konkreten Entwicklungen erfolgt dann eine Konzentrierung auf die Sozialversicherung (Renten-, Kranken-, Arbeitslosenversicherung), sofern überhaupt von einer Sozialversicherung in Rußland gesprochen werden kann. Die Untersuchung hat ergeben, daß sich die Reform der sozialen Sicherung bisher in einzelnen Maßnahmen erschöpft, ohne daß eine grundlegende Reform sichtbar wird. Es wurde auch deutlich, daß in der gegenwärtigen Lage die Umsetzbarkeit von Reformvorhaben keineswegs gesichert ist, da die sozial benachteiligten Gruppen einen erheblichen Teil der russischen Bevölkerung ausmachen. Im Anhang ist das sowjetische System der sozialen Sicherung dargestellt, das heute noch weitesgehend Gültigkeit hat. Aus diesen Regelungen resultieren viele der heutige Mängel. (psz)

The Azerbaijan-Russia borderline mainly goes by the Caucasian mountain range and close to the Samur riverbed. Main border posts are situated close to the Caspian seashore while the locals living in the Upper Dagestan area have difficulties with crossing borderline. The locals are represented by the so called "divided peoples" whose living area was divided with the state border after 1991. The former inner borders ignored ethnic areas but now they became the lines crossing the ethnic groups of Legins, Avars, Tzakhurs and Rutuls. Certainly, those peoples are interested in specific rules for crossing the border. At the same time, their areas have not got the equipped border offices and they have to spend a lot of time and money for travelling to the neighboring districts via Baku or Vladikavkaz. Such problems arouse the radical demands among locals. The Lezgin movement for an independent Lezgistan is the most famous among them. Its supporters were involved in a terrorist attack in Baku in 1990-s and now they collect files about any problems connected with border issues, including the results of a demarcation process. They attract attention to the facts of all assignments made by Russian representatives. The activity of other ethnic groups was comparatively lower and they could make an agreement with local authorities about division of powers. Obviously, any solution about development of the border infrastructure may stabilize the separatism activity in the area.

The author determines the key challenges and threats to cross-border security at Azerbaijan-Russia borderline on the basis of analysis of Federal and regional media, declarations made by representatives of the local and borderline authorities, as well as online activities of national movements. The author reveals the infrastructure factors of ensuring cross-border activity, social and economic conditions of borderline districts development. The suggestion is made on the need to develop infrastructure borderline objects for complex development of the crossborder area that will allow preventing separatism.

On the basis of an extensive literature study on the challenges and perspectives of social security in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC), the authors of this article have been able to determine a set of 20 common challenges to the BRIC countries. The challenges focused on are the lack of social security paradigm, the coverage of all the (working) population, demography, changing family patterns and internal migration, interaction between economic development and social security, the diversity of economic and social realities within one country, the lack of transparency of the social security system, poverty alleviation and basic needs, the lack of solidarity and interaction between social assistance and social insurance, the weak interconnection between social security actors, the place of private actors in social security, pensions and other income replacement, the access to a qualitative health care and care, inflation and the validity of commitments for the future, identification and information technology–related issues, globalization and worldwide competition and the need for a sustainable financial and economic basis. On the basis of an analysis of each of these challenges, the article aims to give an insight into where the BRIC countries stand today and what their future plans are both on a governmental level and on a nongovernmental level.

In the work – in addition to the traditional division of national security into economic, financial, military, food, etc. – social and territorial types of security are identified. The authors do not divide the national economic security into subtypes, they attempt to reveal the complex of social and territorial problems relating to the national economic security of modern Russia. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n28p79