Social Policy in Autocracies - Pension Policy in Bulgaria (1879-1989)

This book examines the influence of authoritarian rule on the development of the welfare state. Building on theoretical approaches from research on autocratic regimes and comparative welfare state research, it develops a novel theoretical argument on authoritarian pension policy. In a case study focusing on the development of the public pension system in Bulgaria during more than a century of authoritarian rule (1879 1989), it shows that distinct types of authoritarian regimes have different impact on the institutional design of the public pension system depending on their specific patterns of legitimation and ideological orientations.

List of contents

Introduction.- Theoretical framework.- Research design.- Pension policy in Bulgaria (1879-1944).- Pension policy under communist rule (1944-1989).- Pension policy in Bulgaria under authoritarian rule (1879-1989): summary of main empirical findings.- Conclusion.

About the author

Maria Ignatova-Pfarr
is a political scientist and has been working as a research assistant at SOCIUM, Research Centre for Inequality and Social Policy at the University of Bremen since 2020, where she conducts research in the field of the political economy of the welfare state. Her research focuses on historical welfare state research, war and welfare state development, and social policy in communist states.

Product details

• Authors: Maria Ignatova-Pfarr
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 10.06.2026
• EAN: 9783658503291
• ISBN: 978-3-658-50329-1
• No. of pages: 253
• Illustrations: XVII, 253 p. 9 illus., 6 illus. in color. Textbook for German language market.
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Political sociology; Sozialwesen und soziale Dienste, Welfare State, Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie, case study, Social Policy, Bulgaria, auseinandersetzen, Geschichte anderer geographischer Gruppierungen und Regionen, Russian, Soviet, and East European History, Political Economy and Economic Systems, Comparative Social Policy, authoritarian regimes, autocratic regimes, authoritarian rule, Authoritarian, Development of the Welfare State, Authoritarian Pension Policy, Pension Policy, Public Pension System, Institutional Design of the Public Pension System