Reforming to Survive: The Bolshevik Origins of Social Policies

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Reforming to Survive: The Bolshevik Origins of Social Policies
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Magnus B. Rasmussen
By (author) Carl Henrik Knutsen
SeriesElements in Political Economy
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:75
Category/GenrePolitical economy
ISBN/Barcode 9781108995474
ClassificationsDewey:361.613
Audience
Tertiary Education (US: College)
Illustrations Worked examples or Exercises

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 5 January 2023
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

This Element details how elites provide policy concessions when they face credible threats of revolution. Specifically, the authors discuss how the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent formation of Comintern enhanced elites' perceptions of revolutionary threat by affecting the capacity and motivation of labor movements as well as the elites' interpretation of information signals. These developments incentivized elites to provide policy concessions to urban workers, notably reduced working hours and expanded social transfer programs. The authors assess their argument by using original qualitative and quantitative data. First, they document changes in perceptions of revolutionary threat and strategic policy concessions in early inter-war Norway by using archival and other sources. Second, they code, for example, representatives at the 1919 Comintern meeting to proxy for credibility of domestic revolutionary threat in cross-national analysis. States facing greater threats expanded various social policies to a larger extent than other countries, and some of these differences persisted for decades.