Sarah Wilson Sokhey will discuss pension politics in Russia, where the retirement age has recently been increased after decades of promises from Putin and others not to do so. Her talk will draw on research from her recent book, The Political Economy of Pension Policy Reversal in Post-Communist Countries (2017), which won the 2018 Ed A. Hewett Book Prize for an outstanding publication on the political economy of Russia, Eurasia, and Eastern Europe. In this book, she examines the global trend in the reversal of a radical pension policy using survival analysis, survey data, and case studies of the Russian, Polish, and Hungarian experiences. Her work lends insight into how and why major policy reversals occur in a wide variety of contexts. Brunch will be provided. Attendance is by registration only on Eventbrite.

Sarah Wilson Sokhey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Colorado, a Faculty Associate at the Institute of Behavioral Science, and an Associate Fellow at the International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia. She is also a member of the PONARS Eurasia group, a network of over 100 academic experts specializing in Russia and Eurasia. Her work has been published in various journals, including Party Politics, Europe-Asia Studies, and Economics & Politics, and has received support from the International Research & Exchanges Board and the Social Science Research Council.