Economy, environment and society

Since the early 1990s the former Soviet Union and east and central Europe has been associated with ‘economic transition’. It was considered that the disintegration of central planning would inevitably result in the emergence of market capitalism. However the complex and divergent paths of transformation resulted in a complex mosaic of national and regional economies differently. Post-soviet economic change has included widespread employment decline, under and unemployment, withdrawal from the formal economy, and an increase in poverty. This has also been accompanied by the continuation of environmental degradation. Economic interationalisation has also resulted in foreign investment and the emergence of centres of producer services in large of metropolitan areas.

Research on Soviet and post-soviet economic change includes:

• work on labour markets, poverty and social exclusion
• organisational and management change
• environmental management and policy
• the institutionalisation of economic change at the regional scale

Andrew Cook

Dr Benedikt Herrmann

Prof Nick Manning
Prof Sarah O’Hara
Dr Anna Soulsby
Dr Adam Swain

Summary of expertise