International Social Work

This article aims to identify the changes in institutions and discourses resulting from global/local interaction in social work in today’s Russia. We consider the contribution of international co-operation to the development of local institutions and discourses, focusing on emerging discrepancies and contradictions between international and local actors. Based on a review of relevant literature and mass media, survey data and interviews with social workers and managers in an industrial region of Russia, we conclude that when global social work values are embedded in local traditions, it can support the development of social work in Russia.

The article constructs children’s rights as a social institution relevant to the multifunctional nature of the contemporary child. In line with the interpretivist approach, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is viewed as a soft law, which requires the pluralization of practices towards international regulations. The juxtaposition of two key approaches to the UNCRC, the double status of the child and the dilemma of public versus private, frames the investigation of the current issues in Russia and Belarus through the discourses operating around children’s rights. The comparison highlights the common shortcomings and the peculiarities, clarifying the possible strategies for refining the implementation of children’s rights in post-Soviet countries.

Based on the 2008 data from ESS, the article analyses the attitudes of Russians towards state social policy, and compares their opinions with those of populations in selected European countries. The research identifies the factors affecting social attitudes toward welfare policies. Results suggest that Russians believe that the majority of social support functions must be provided by the state stems from the severity of these problems in the country.

This article is based on research on preschool childcare services and analyses the issues of its provision in Russia in comparison to Western and Eastern European countries. A micro-level cross-sectional data analysis of the first waves of the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) is performed. The results show that variations in using childcare services can be partly explained by the age and number of children in the family, mother’s education and characteristics of her employment.

Based on large-scale surveys and in-depth interviews, this article discusses the role of religion in social welfare and social work in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan, a majority Muslim region. It notes that there is relatively little formal social work provided by large-scale Islam-based groups. However, religious spaces are important as places where social networks are developed, facilitating social welfare provision within wider networks. Locally, mosques rarely provide immediate aid, such as cash transfers, but some engage in long-term targeted provision. The article concludes that as such schemes develop, trust in religious organizations will increase and more people will turn to them in times of need.

This article presents an overview of the rhetoric and main discourses presented in the sphere of social policy and social services provided in Russia especially with regards to social inclusion of migrants. Inclusion policies in schools for children from migrant families are described and contrasted with lack of developments in police practices. A case study of two social service organizations in one of the regions in Privolzhsky Federal District is presented in order to analyze the micro-level of social policy and to find out whether their practices display inclusive culture.

Russian social services and the social work profession have experienced dramatic growth since the 1990s due to numerous political, societal, and economic changes. This article discusses gender violence and discrimination against women, perhaps the most pressing problem confronting Russia today. The authors conduct a literature review and describe a collaborative engagement between a social work graduate education program in Russia (Vologda) and the United States (Texas) that involved curriculum development, classroom teaching, professional training, and agency consultation. It recommends policy, practice, and research needed to continue improving social services for Russian women, their families, and the community that also informs social work practice in the United States, with particular emphasis on domestic violence.

The article analyses whether social work in Russia can have an empowering effect on the poor, given the survival of hierarchical structure of organizations and women’s responsibility for social welfare. Although state policies promote charity rather than empowerment, this study also discusses to what extent women’s paid and unpaid work could stimulate processes of empowerment through supportive measures that open up possibilities for the poor to engage in changing their own situation. The empirical data are based on interviews with social work specialists, NGO representatives and local politicians in two Russian regions.

Contemporary Russian reality is characterized by inconsistency in the official discourse regarding the problems and prospects of labour migration in Russia and the lack of a clear framework for building a network of social support for labour migrants. Research was carried out into the cultural resources for migrants provided by two types of regional social services: the territorial authorities and human rights NGOs providing social support for migrants. The authors argue that development of services requires integration mechanisms aimed at an inclusive culture for labour migrants.

Educating for international social work: Human rights leadership

Catherine Allensworth Hawkins and Karen Knox

International Social Work 2014, Vol. 57(3) 248–257

DOI: 10.1177/0020872813519462

The opening paragraph of this article erroneously states that the first International Conference on Social Work was held in London in 1928. In fact, the Conference was held that year in Paris.