Linda Cook's main research interests are in the comparative politics of the Russian Federation, Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and electoral-authoritarian regimes. Her research focuses on domestic and international politics of welfare states and their transformation; the relationship between democratization and social welfare; comparative political representation of labor and women; NGOs, and the politics of health and welfare in contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe.

My research is concerned with the politics, welfare and political representation in Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and in electoral-authoritarian regimes cross-regionally. My previous work provides an in-depth analysis of the Soviet-era welfare state, its structure and political logic. Later research on comparative post-communist welfare states focuses on how welfare state change was initiated and negotiated politically, and how it has been influenced by both domestic politics and international institutions and policy constructs. It draws on comparative welfare state literature to construct a framework for analysis of the postcommunist cases, and is based on extensive study of primary sources and interviews in the East European region. I have also conducted collaborative research with Russian colleagues on social sector non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Russian regions and their roles in building civil society and influencing social policy.

A second focus of my research is on labor, unions, and labor politics, including a monograph on labor in the Russian transition, and a later project on the effects of globalization on labor rights and regimes in postcommunist states. This research looks comparatively at the impacts of international or external organizations (i.e., the European Union, ILO, IFIs, MNC's) on the development of labor rights in several post-Soviet and East European states, and at movement toward flexibilization of work rules and regimes. It forms part of a collaborative project sponsored by the Watson Institute's Political Economy program.

A third research area is representation of women and women's interests in politics. A published study on women in the Russian Duma (legislature) focuses on the organization of women deputies, their links with societal interests and organizations, and their perceptions of their roles and responsibilities as representative, and is based on extensive interviews with current and former Duma deputies. I am currently working on a research project that looks at Russian women's understanding of their legal rights in labor relations.

Postcommunist political parties and representative institutions have also been a focus of my work, resulting in a collaborative study of left parties and social policy in postcommunist Europe, and a study of political clientelism in Eastern Europe in comparative context. Numerous articles and book chapters have also come out of these various strands of my research interests.

My current research projects are explained in the "Current Projects" section of this profile.

  Project Participant, “Democracy, Autocracy and the Welfare State in the 21^st Century:

     A Global Approach,” Central European University Democracy Institute, 2026-

 Research Project Participant, “Global Welfare Regimes” led by Dr. Julia Shu-Huah Wang, Dept. of

     Social Work, National Taiwan University; funded by the National Science and Technology Council

     of Taiwan.  2023-

 Invited Participant, Open Society University Network, project on “Democratization and

     Autocratization” Research Hub on Exclusionary Regimes and Autocratization, Central European

     University Democracy Institute, Budapest, Hungary, 2024-2026

Team Leader for Research Project, “Social Policy in the Russian Federation:  Directions, Policy Processes,  Outcomes, Prospects, funded by United Nations Research Institute for Social               Development  Project “New Directions in Social Policy:  Alternatives from the for the Global South”  ($40,000)   

Fellowship, Aleksanteri Institute, Finnish Centre for Russian and East European Studies, Univ. of Helsinki, Finland, 2011-12

Co-recipient, COE Faculty Research Grant, Brown University, "States,NGOs and Access to Health Care in Postcommunist States" 2011-12

National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, principal investigator for research grant, "The Formulation of Social Policy in Russia's Regions: Is There Evidence of Civil Society's Participation?" (2003-2004; $23,000)

National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, principal investigator for research grant, "Reforming the Safety Net? The Politics of Social Welfare in the Russian Federation" (1999-2000)

Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, Wilson Center, Washington, D.C., short-term research grant ($3,000, spring 2000; $3,000, summer 1987)

Salomon Faculty Research Award, Brown University, for project, "The Politics of Social Welfare in the Russian Federation" (1998-1999)

Social Science Research Council, Joint Committee on the Soviet Union and its Successor States, faculty professional development grant (1994-1995)

National Council for Soviet and East European Research, co-prinicipal investigator in collaborative study, "Working Class Responses to the Post-Socialist Transition in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Republics" (1992-1993)

International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), short-term travel grants for research trips to Moscow (1992, 1998, 2001)

IREX Young Scholar, Soviet Union Exchange, year in residence at Moscow and Leningrad State Universities for dissertation research (1981-1982)

Books

 Welfare Nationalism in Europe and Russia:  The Politics of 21st Century Exclusionary

         and  Inclusionary Migrations (Cambridge University Press, 2024) Co- winner of the 2025

         Joseph Rothschild Prize in Nationalism and Ethnic Studies, Association for the

         Study of Nationalities

 

 

 

The Soviet Social Contract and Why It Failed:  Welfare Policy and Workers’ Politics from Brezhnev to

    Yeltsin (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993)

 

 Labor and Liberalization: Trade Unions in the New Russia  (New York: 20th Century Fund 1997)

 

  Co-edited with Barbara Chotiner, The Postcommunist World in the Twenty-First Century: 

         How the Past Informs the Present (Lexington Books:  Rowman and Littlefield 2022)

 

  Co-edited with Mitchell Orenstein and Marilyn Rueschemeyer, eds., Left Parties and Social Policy in

   Postcommunist Europe  (Westview, 1999)

 

   Co-edited with Marsha Pripstein- Posusney, eds. Labor and Privatization:  A Global Look at Responses

   And Consequences (Edward Elgar, 2002)

  

Refereed Journal Articles

    (with Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova and Vladimir A. Kozlova)  (2023) “Trying to Reverse Demographic

        Decline:  Pro-natalist and Family policies in Russia, Poland and Hungary,” Social Policy and

      Society, 222, 355-375, 2023. doi:10.1017/S1474746422000628

 

  (with Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova) (2023) “Welfare Reforms in Post-Soviet States: Current Issues and

    Research Highlights, “ Europe-Asia Studies, 75:2, 173-185, .  DOI 10.1080/09668136.2023.2168875

 

  (with Mike Titterton) (2023) “Mapping the Shifts in Russian and European Welfare Polities: Explaining

        Policy Responses to New Social Risks: State-of-the-Art Article. Social Policy and

       Society 222, 321-337, 2023. . doi:10.1017/S1474746422000732            

 

  (with Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova and Anna Tarasenko  (2020) “Outsourcing Social Services to NGOs

    in Russia: Federal Policy and Regional Responses,” Post-Soviet Affairs, Vol. 37. No. 2, 2021

        DOI: 10.1080/1060586X.2020.1853454 

 

   (with Judy Twigg,  (2020) “Can Russia’s Health and Welfare Systems Handle the Pandemic?”

      Current  History 119 (819):251-257.  DOI: file: 10.1525/curh.2020.119.819.251

 

   (with Aadne Aaslund) (2019)  "Russian Pension Reform under Quadruple Influence, Problems of

      Post- Communism, Vol. 66, no. 2, March-Apr 2019. DOI: 10.1080/10758216.2017.1383854

 

   (with co-authors) (2019)  “Introduction:  The Russian Welfare State in a Time of Economic Stagnation,”

         Russian Politics Vol 4, No. 3, Sept. 2019.

 

   (with Aadne Aasland and Daria, Prisyazhnyuk) (2018): ‘Russian Pension Reform: Why

      So Little Engagement from Below?’. Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research, no. 3

      (February). http://www.soclabo.org/index.php/laboratorium/article/view/680.

 

   (with Elena Bogdanova and Meri Kulmala (2018) “The Carrot or the Stick? Constraints and   

       Opportunities of Russia’s CSO Policy,”  Europe-Asia Studies,70:4, 501-5135 

        DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2018.1471803

 

    (with Martin Dimitrov) (2017) “The Social Contract Revisited: Evidence from Communist and

         State-Capitalist Economies,”  Europe-Asia Studies. Vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 8-26, 2017

      

   “Constraints on Universal Health Care in the Russian Federation:  Inequality, Informality, and the

         Failures of Mandatory Medical Insurance Reforms,” reprinted in Journal of Self-Governance and 

        Management Economics, vol. 34, no.4 (2015)

 

“New Winds of Social Policy in the East,” in Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organization,” vol. 26, no. 6,,  pp. 3220-2350, 2015 “  Special Issue, “Unlikely Partners:  Evolving Government-Nonprofit Relations, East and West,” Lester M. Salamon, ed. vol. 26, no. 6, 2015

“Реформы социальной сферы в странах Восточной Европы и бывшем СССР,” (“Reform of the Welfare State in Eastern Europe and Russia,”) in Voprosy gosudarstvennogo i Munitsiplann’nogo Upravlenie (Issues of State and Municipal Administration), Translated by Elena Vinogradova, Higher School of Economics, No. 2,  2014, Higher School of Economics, Moscow.

Constraints on Universal Health Care in the Russian Federation:  Inequality, Informality, and theFailures of Mandatory Medical Insurance Reforms”   reprinted in  Journal of Self-Governance and Management Economics, vol. 34, no.4 (2015) 

“Labor Relations in Russia:  Moving to a “Market Social Contract?” (with Elena Vinogradova and  Irina Kozina  Problems of Post-communism, (forthcoming, spring 2015)

“Russian Labor:  Quiescence and Conflict” (with Irina Kozina and Elena Vinogradova, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 45, nos. 3 & 4, 2012.

“More Rights, Less Power: Labor Standards and Labor Markets in East European Postcommunist  States,” Studies in Comparative International Development, vol. 45, no. 2, June, 2010.

 “Negotiating Welfare in Postcommunist States,” Comparative Politics, vol. 40, no. 1, October, 2007, 41-62.

“NGOs and Social Policy-Making in Russia’s Regions” (with Elena Vinogradova) Problems of Post-Communism,” vol. 53, no. 5, Sept.-Oct., 2006, 28-41.

“The Russian Welfare State:  Obstacles to Restructuring,” Post-Soviet Affairs, vol. 16, No. 4 (Oct.- Dec., 2000:) 355-378.

“Exit and Voice in Russian Managers’ Privatization Strategies,” Communist Economies and Economic Transformation, vol. 7, no. 4, 1995. (with Vladimir Gimpelson)

“Workers in the Russian Federation:  Responses to the Post-communist Transition, 1989-1993,” Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, March, 1995

“Conclusion:  Workers in Post-communist Poland, Russia, and Ukraine,” Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, March, 1995.

“Labor Unions in Post-Communist Countries,” Problems of Post-Communism, vol. 42, no. 2, March-April, 1995

“Brezhnev’s ‘Social Contract’ and Gorbachev’s Reforms,” Soviet Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 1992: 356-376

"The Politics of Soviet Enterprise Insolvency," Soviet Union/Union Sovietique, vol. 17, No. 3,1990, 235-258.

“Party and Workers in the Soviet First Five-Year Plan: The Transition from Political Mobilization to Administrative Control,” Russian History, vol. 15, no 2-4, 1988, 227-252.

 

Peer-Reviewed Publications (selected)

 

(with Meri Kulmala) “Introduction to Welfare and Social Marginality,” The DeGruyter Handbook

    of  Eurasian Societies, Charlie Walker, et. al. eds. (DeGruyter, Forthcoming)

 (with Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova), "NGOs in the Context of Reform of Social Services in Russia" in New 

    Directions in Social Policy from and for the (Global) South:  Institutions and Actors,"  Ilcheong Yi,

    Alexandra Kaasch and Kelly Stetter eds.  Policy Press, 2024)

(with Tomasz Inglot), Chapter 50, "Central and East Europe,"   in The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, 2nd     edition, edited by Daniel Beland, Kimberly J. Morgan, Herbert Obinger and Christopher Pierson, (Oxford               University Press, 2021)

“Constraints on Universal Health Care in the Russian Federation:  Inequality, Informality, and the

       Failures of Mandatory Medical Insurance Reforms,” in Ilcheong Yi, ed., Towards Universal Health

       Care in Emerging Economies: Opportunities and Challenges (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) 

‘Implications of Migration for Development of Russian Social Policy,” in Anna-Liisa Heusala and Kaarina Aitamurto, eds., Migrant Workers in Russia:  Global Challenges of the Shadow Economy in Societal Transformation (Routledge, 2016)

  ”’Spontaneous Privatization’ and its Political Consequences in Russia’s Postcommunist Health  Sector,” in Melani Cammett and Lauren  M. McLean, eds., The Politics of Non-state Social      Welfare (Cornell University Press, 2014)

“Political Clientelism and Social Policy:  The Postcommunist Experience,” in  Political Clientelism, Social Policy, and the Quality of Democracy,  Larry Diamond and Diego Abente-Brun, eds. (Johns Hopkins University Press, forthcoming, 2014

“Constraints on Universal Health Care in the Russian Federation:  Inequality, Informality, and theFailures of Mandatory Medical Insurance Reforms” (Geneva, UNRISD, forthcoming)

“Welfare State Development,” Oxford Bibliographies On-Line : Political Science (Rick Valelly,Editor, 2011) at: www.aboutobo.com

“Russian Labor,” Handbook of Russian Politics and Society, Graeme Gill, ed. (Routledge, 2011)

"Eastern Europe and Russia,” Chap. 46 in The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare States, FrancesCastles, Stephan Leibfried, Jane Lewis, Herbert Obinger, and Christopher Pierson, eds. pp. 671-688. (Oxford University Press, 2010)

“Russia’s Welfare Regime:  the Shift Toward Statism,” chap. 2 in Maija Jappinen, Meri Kulmala and Aino Saarinen, eds.,  Gazing at Welfare, Gender, and Agency in Post- socialist Countries (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010)

“Women in the Russian State Duma,” (with Carol Nechemias) in Marilyn Rueschemeyer and Sharon Wolchik, eds., Women in Power in Postcommunist Parliaments (Indiana University Press with the Wilson Center for Scholars, 2009)

 

 

“

Fulbright Scholarship, Russian Federation, 2015

Invited Participant, Richard C. Holbrooke Forum Retreat, "Authoritarianism in a Global Context," American Academy in Berlin, June 21-July 11, 2015

Chesler-Mallow Senior Research Fellow and Director, Seminar on Socialism and Post-socialism, Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women,Brown Univ., 2013-2014

Visiting Fellow, Center for Russian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy  and Public Administration (RANEPA), Moscow, Russian Federation, June 2014

 Brown University Faculty Fellowship, Cogut Center for the Humanities, "Political Economy of Health Care in Russia: State and Market, Mothers and Migrants" Spring, 201

Visiting Fellow, Aleksanteri Institute, Finnish Centre for Russian and East European Studies, Univ. of Helsinki,Finland Summer 2011- 2012

Nominated as Member-at-Large, Board of Directors, Association for the Study of East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) 2011

Co-recipient, COE Faculty Research Grant, Brown University, Project on "States, NGOs, Access to Health Care in Postcommunist States." 2011-12

Pembroke Center Faculty Fellow, Seminar on "Markets and Bodies in Transnational Perspective" Brown University (2009-2010)

National Council of Eurasian and East European Research, Principal Investigator for Grant, "Formulation of Social Policy in Russia's Regions:The Question of Civil Society's Influence."(2003-2006)

Senior Fellowship, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University (2003-2004)

National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, P.I. forGrant, "Reforming the Safety Net? Politics of Social Welfare in the
Russian Federation" (1999-2000)

Social Science Research Council, Jt. Committee on SU and Successor States, Professional Development Grant, Economics (1994-95)

National Council for Soviet and East European Research, Co-PI on collaborative grant, "Working Class Responses to Post-Socialist Transition in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Republics, 1992-93

Research fellowship, Russian Research Center, Harvard University, (fall 1990)

Post-doctoral fellowship, Harriman Institute for Russian Studies, Columbia University (fall 1985)

Junior Fellowship, Harriman Institute for Russian Studies, Columbia University (1983-1984)

IREX Young Scholar, Soviet Union Exchange, Dissertation Fellowship,
Moscow and Leningrad State Universities, 1981-82

Visiting Scholar, Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham, England, funded by IREX (spring 1981)

National Resource Fellowship, Columbia University (1982-1983)

National Defense Foreign Language Fellowship, Columbia University (1976-1978)

M. Phil. with Distinction, Political Science, Columbia University (1979)

President's Fellowship, Columbia University (1975-1977)

Phi Beta Kappa, Boston University (1975)

B.A., Boston University, Summa Cum Laude with Distinction in Political Science (1975)

International Advisory Board Member, Center of Excellence, Aleksanteri Institute for Russian and East European Studies, Univ. of Helsinki, Finland 2012-present

Advisory Editor, Oxford Bibliographies Online, Political Science, 2010-

Editorial Collective Member, "Studies in Comparative International Development, Watson Institute, Brown University (2006-present)

Associate, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University (1993-present)

American Association for Eurasian and East European Studies (ASEEES)

American Political Science Association (APSA)

European Social Policy Network (ESPANet)

My courses covered overviews of comparative politics theory at both the undergraduate and graduate levels; the domestic and interantional politics of Post-Soviet/ Eurasian and East European States;the comparative and global politics of welfare states, and ethnic politics and conflict.