Globalization and welfare state commitments in post-communist societies

This dissertation employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore welfare state commitment under globalization pressure in post-communist societies. Using times series design, based on the observations of 23 post-communist states from 1990 to 2005, this dissertation relies on data published in the World Development Indicators and Government Finance Statistics Yearbook to reveal a surprising finding: use of IMF credit is positively associated with welfare spending. This finding contradicts the consensus in the development and structural adjustment literature, which largely views policy-based conditional lending as a negative influence on receiving countries' welfare. Qualitative evidence on China and Russia's pension reforms further supports findings in the quantitative chapter: International Financial Organizations' (IFOs) involvement in policy guidance during the post-communist transition does not translate directly to retrenchment of welfare state commitment. This is because it is also in the best interest of the IFOs to maintain social safety nets in post-communist states. It is the best way to ensure a relatively stable social environment, which is the most conducive for obtaining higher financial returns from the loans distributed to facilitate the post-communist transition.