WHEN THINGS FALL APART

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WHEN THINGS FALL APART

• Qualitative Studies of Poverty in the former
  Soviet Union

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things fall apart

• Title draws both on Yeats The Second Coming
  (1921) Things fall apart the center cannot
  hold written between the two World Wars,
• and Chinua Achebes great 1958 novel about the
  Ibos painful transition to a post-colonial world

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Background of the studies

• Qualitative studies of poverty in 8 FSU countries
  
• Studies conducted 1993-1998 some along with LSMS
  or quant surveys some for projects
• Most authors anthropologists had lived in the
  FSU spoke local languages

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Key messages

• Methodological the importance of qualitative
  approaches for understanding the relationship
  between perceptions, experiences and behavior
• Multidimensionality of poverty
• Unique aspects of poverty in the former Soviet
  Union (FSU)
• Importance of country knowledge

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Contents of the study

• A Window on Social Reality Qualitative methods
  in poverty research
• From Soviet Expectations to Post-Soviet
  Realities Poverty during the transition
• Central Asia Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan,
  Uzbekistan
• South Caucasus Armenia, Georgia
• West of the Urals Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia

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Methodology

• Purposive sampling of sites households
• 100s of open-ended HH, key informant interviews
  FGs, observation of living conditions
• Generalizability based on large samples
• Authors prepared instruments, recruited and
  trained teams, worked with them in the field
• Analysis based on individual interview
  reports/summaries or transcripts

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The importance of qualitative approaches for the
FSU

• Former Soviet countries undergoing abrupt change
  little studied poorly understood
• Standard LSMS categories (household employment)
  not always applicable
• More suitable for exploring sensitive issues
  (corruption, deviance, quasi-legal survival
  strategies)

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Whats different about post-Soviet poverty?

• Volume covers 8 countries with distinct
  pre-Soviet histories and cultures
• Carried out in different years, studies document
  emergence, evolution and institutionalization of
  poverty in FSU
• Demonstrate differentiation and diverging
  approaches to poverty among new nation-states

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A chronology of Soviet poverty

• Steady improvement in standard of living
  1960-1980 serious poverty hidden (prisons,
  residential institutions)
• Inflation, shortages, rationing in the 1980s led
  to growth of shadow economy, strengthened
  reliance on informal networks
• State dissolution and economic collapse spared
  no-one except top political and economic elite

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The collapse

• State fragmentation sundered trade links caused
  abrupt drop in production, employment
• Shortages of fuel, electricity brought economic
  and daily life to a standstill, esp. in cities
• Social services crippled
• Hyperinflation people lost life savings
  overnight
• Burgeoning criminality, explosion of mafias
• Leadership without credibility

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The new poor

• New poor from all walks of life most were
  educated, previously employed socially
  integrated into their communities
• Shared ideological conviction/assumption that
  state should provide employment, services, and
  prevent large socioeconomic disparities
• Historic denial of and strong public disapproval
  of poverty created sense of humiliation

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Response to shock

• Work tied to social status unemployment linked
  to shame, depression, alcoholism, suicide
• Inability to participate in ceremonial/ritual
  obligations led to exclusion from networks
• Gendered response women more resilient men
  emasculated/paralyzed

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Initial coping strategies

• People used networks established in Soviet period
• Reduced consumption pilfered state assets sold
  own assets/housing, went into debt
• Subsistence gardening became safety net
• New micro-enterprises vulnerable to mafias
• Expanding shuttle trade (women) labor migration
  (men)
• Emigration to other FSU countries Europe, N.
  America

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The normalization of poverty

• Street children, bag ladies, refugees, and
  Mercedes co-exist visible rich-poor gap
• Sharp socio-economic stratification, social
  networks of rich and poor separate, linked by
  clientelism
• Institutionalized Soviet-era corruption has
  expanded, diversified, become more violent
• Pervasive insecurity vulnerability to shock
• Collapse of old institutions new ones still
  fragile

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Conclusions

• Similar psychological response and coping
  strategies across FSU, along with increasing
  diversity in patterns of growth, opportunity
• Weak Soviet institutions provided poor basis for
  institutions of newly independent states, (need
  more attention to governance issues)
• Deep nostalgia among middle/older generations
  continued expectations of state as provider
  belief in social justice, egalitarianism

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What next?

• Poverty studies should include non-poor
• More nuanced examination of social relationships
  (social capital)
• Devote more serious attention to building
  capacity of local researchers provide better
  tools for policymakers
• Policies should target pockets of extreme
  poverty, where exclusion is eroding prospects of
  children/youth