Social Policy, Poverty, and Inequality in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

"This is an outstanding book, a must read for anyone interested in social policy development across Eastern Europe. It covers all aspects of social protection, including health care, pension systems, labour market, poverty reduction policies, and child welfare policy. The book reports not only on the various aspects of social policy, but also discusses many countries around Eastern Europe, including the Visegrad countries, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, and Russia. The book is impressive not only in terms of its scope, but also by its in-depth analyses, using sopthisticated methodologies and data, and highlighting the major challenges that the Eastern European region, with a variation within, has been faced with over the last twenty years, namely, the fragmentation and inconsistent development of the welfare state system."—Chief Researcher Dr. Jolanta Aidukaite, Lithuanian Social Research Centre