Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, December 15, 2008

Economic policies 4

The global economic and financial crisis offers an opportunity to look at policy making in various political systems. We can ask questions about how the policy making process works; about what ideas are most influential; about which people and groups vie for influence in making policies; and about who seem to be the winners and the losers in the process.

Then we can put our comparative hats on and make some
  • generalizations about economic policy making
  • comparisons of the policy making process and the policies and
  • evaluations of the effectiveness of the policies

The fourth example is about Russia. The report comes from the Washington Post.

Putin Promises On National TV To Raise Pensions, Other Spending

"Confronting growing public anxiety over a faltering economy, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin assured Russians on Thursday the country would make it through the global financial crisis with "minimal losses" and pledged to boost pension payments and other spending to help those suffering in the downturn...

"He promised to increase pension payments by 34 percent, as well as to provide greater support for the unemployed, free medicine for the elderly, apartments for military officers and subsidized air tickets for residents of distant regions...

"Still, Putin argued, the country was better off than during the 1990s. 'We faced problems with the territorial integrity of our country, with the total disintegration of production and in the social arena,' he said. 'Today, our country is in a completely different position. We have every chance to make it through this difficult period with minimal losses both for the economy and, most importantly, our citizens.'..."

Labels: , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home