Social Contracts in Contemporary Belarus
Authors: Baturchik, M., Haiduk, K., Glambotskaya, A., Efimova, N., Lisovskaya, T., Rakova, E., Silitsky, V., Chubrik, A., Shymanovich, G.
The phenomenon of continuing Belarusian social and economic stability has fascinated economists, sociologists and politicians for many years. Many analysts and observers have considered Belarus – a non-market economy with no open political competition – as a country that should eventually embark on the path of systemic reforms, following the path of the vast majority of former socialist countries. The reality proved quite different, though. An important factor of social stability is a political business cycle that has lasted for more than a decade. Under normal conditions, the cycle cannot be sustained for that long as voters can easily predict the economic policies. Its preservation is possible only through contracting authorities and the population under which there is an exchange of loyalty to the additional social and economic benefits. Such an agreement can be characterized as a “social contract”, features of which are analyzed in this book, prepared BISS. See more detailed results of the study here.
© BISS, 2010