Linda Cook
Professor:
Political Science
Phone: +1 401 863 2505
Phone 2: +1 401 863 2826
Linda_Cook@Brown.EDU
Linda Cook's main research interests are in the politics of the Russian Federation, other post-Soviet and East European States. Her research focuses on domestic and international influences on welfare states and their transformation, the relationship between democratization and social welfare, and comparative political representation of labor, women, and NGOs.
Biography
Linda J. Cook, a professor in Brown's Political Science Department, received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1985. She is currently a professor in the political science department at Brown University, an associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and of the Watson Institute at Brown. She authored "The Soviet Social Contract and Why it Failed" (Harvard, 1993), and is currently revising a book manuscript, "Postcommunist Welfare States: Negotiating Change," (under contract with Cornell University Press.)
Interests
My research is concerned with the politics of welfare and political representation in Russia, the Post-Soviet States, and Eastern Europe. My major project at present, a book manuscript titled Postcommunist Welfare States: Negotiating Change, focuses on the transformation of welfare in the Russian Federation and four additional states from 1991 to the present. It provides an in-depth analysis of changes in the structure and financing of the welfare state, how these were initiated by state actors and negotiated politically, and how they were influenced by both domestic politics and international institutions and policy constructs. The study focuses mainly on Russia, then utilizes several additional cases to place the Russian case into comparative context. 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 region. Several publications on postcommunist welfare state reform and change in specific policy areas have also come out of this research.
I am also involved in three smaller research projects. The first is a study of social sector non-governmental organizations in three Russian regions, particularly their roles in building civil society and influencing policy. It is a collaborative project, funded by the National Council of East European and Eurasian Research, and conducted with Russian colleagues through interviews in the three regions.
A second project concerns 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 project looks at representation of women and women's interests in the Russian Duma (legislature) over the postcommunist period. It 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.
My previous research has focused on issues of welfare, political representation, and labor in the Soviet Union and postcommunist states. It includes an in-depth study of the Communist-era welfare state, its structure and political logic, and the initial impacts of democratization. My research has also focused on labor, unions, and labor politics, including a monograph on labor in the Russian transition. 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. Numerous articles and book chapters have also come out of these various strands of my research interests.
Degrees
Ph.D., Columbia University, Political Science, 1985
Awards
Senior Fellowship, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University (2003-2004)
Research fellowship, Russian Research Center, Harvard University, (fall 1990)
Post-doctoral fellowship, Harriman Institute for Russian Studies, Columbia University (fall 1985)
Junior Fellowship, Harrman Institute for Russian Studies, Columbia University (1983-1984)
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)
Affiliations
Associate, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
American Political Science Association
Teaching
My courses cover overviews of comparative politics theory at both the undergraduate and graduate levels; the politics of Post-Soviet and East European States; politics and welfare in old and new democracies; and ethnic politics and conflict.
Funded Research
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 Facutly 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)