ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests a new middle-range theory for analysing the problematics of welfare. We argue that the structuration capacity and vulnerability theory (SCV) opens new prospects for conceptualizing Russian social problems and social policy. The Russian welfare state of today does not fit any of the ideal-type regimes in the literature. The state withdraws itself from many tasks in a neo-liberal spirit, but social policy still includes some conservative and social-democratic elements. Our analysis also shows that the privatization of Russian social policy and the abandonment of institutional care are linked to the global neo-liberal trend. The low welfare budget and strong tendency towards the withdrawal of the state are at odds with the expectations of the Russian people. This is the most significant contradiction, and a domestic vulnerability, in Russian social policy. The external vulnerability of Russian social policy is linked with energy policy. Russia is not able to control the energy markets and cannot count on the volatile equilibriums present in the global arena. This enforces the elites to commitment to fiscal conservatism.
