Dependent capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe: long‑term trends and new shocks
To cite this article: Butkaliuk, V. 2026. Dependent capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe: long-term trends and new shocks. Futur Bus J 12, 225 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-026-00932-4
Abstract
This article examines the long-term consequences of the development strategies adopted by post-socialist economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), which are characterised by large-scale inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the significant involvement of foreign capital in transformational processes. It analyses how FDI has reshaped economic structures whilst creating a specific vulnerability pattern. Whilst supporting productivity growth, export expansion, and partial convergence, FDI has also deepened dependence on transnational corporations, external financing and international production networks. An analysis of the global financial crisis (2007–2009), the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020s geopolitical upheavals shows that these shocks exposed the sensitivity of CEE economies to shifts in external demand, capital flows and corporate strategies without fundamentally altering the underlying structure of dependence. The article concludes that these strategies combine persistent structural dependence with a notable capacity for adjustment and recovery.
Keywords: CEE, FDI, Dependent market economy, Post-socialist transformation, Neoliberalism
Full text: https://rdcu.be/fuyrU
Global Inequality in the Age of Militarised Capitalism
Anatolii Arseienko & Vitalina Butkaliuk
To cite this article: Anatolii Arseienko & Vitalina Butkaliuk (15 Sep 2025): Global Inequality in the Age of Militarised Capitalism, International Critical Thought, DOI: 10.1080/21598282.2025.2546467
Abstract
The article explores how rising military spending, linked to the militarisation of capitalist economies, has affected the working class since the end of the Eastern Bloc and the Warsaw Pact. It highlights the significant increase in military budgets in the United States and other NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) countries, despite promises that these funds would be used to address domestic issues. The authors argue that this militarism has led to more wars, has boosted capital accumulation for large corporations, and has worsened inequality, driving some countries back to early 20th century levels. The reliance on military force in both foreign and domestic policies has also weakened trade unions and collective bargaining. The growing gap between rich and poor is due to income differences, uneven tax burdens, and reduced support for the needy. Many families now struggle with costs like education and healthcare. The worsening situation for workers and the shrinking middle class requires a stronger fight against militaristic policies and for global peace.
Keywords: Militarisation of the capitalist economy; peace dividend; militarism; neoliberalism; inequality.
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/21598282.2025.2546467
The Social Consequences of the Global Expansion of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Anatolii Arseienko and Vitalina Butkaliuk
To cite this article: Anatolii Arseienko and Vitalina Butkaliuk. The Social Consequences of the Global Expansion of the COVID-19 Pandemic. World Review of Political Economy. 2023. Vol. 14(3):443-477. DOI: 10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.14.3.0443
Abstract
Based on a class analysis, the article shows the failure of the commercialized health care system in the Global North and South to address the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, the article investigates the dynamics, consequences, and prospects of the struggle by developed countries to overcome the coronavirus crisis, revealing the extremely low effectiveness and class limitations of the measures taken. The stumbling block in the way of curbing the pandemic on a global scale has been the refusal by developed countries to help developing countries vaccinate their populations. The brunt of the COVID-19 problem has been shifted by the capitalist state and monopolies onto the working class, leading to increased exploitation, excess mortality, and widening inequality. On the basis of an analysis of the health crisis in the capitalist world, the article concludes that global civilization must move toward a more just and democratic world order that is able to put the health of workers before monopoly profits, and to guarantee everyone the right to live with dignity.
Key words: neoliberalism; COVID-19; health care; inequality; working class.
To link to this article: DOI: 10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.14.3.0443
Social consequences of employment flexibilisation in the era of postFordism/neoliberalism
Vitalina Butkaliuk
To cite this article: Butkaliuk, V. (2022). Social consequences of employment flexibilisation in the era of post-Fordism/neoliberalism. Human Resources Management and Services, 4(1), 3479.
Abstract
The article presents an analysis of the main causes and social consequences of the transformation of employment in the conditions of the transition of the world economy to post-Fordism/neoliberalism at the end of the 20th century. The author discusses the main methodological approaches to the study of this problem and also dwells in detail on the analysis of such important consequences of the transformation of the labour sphere as the increase in the vulnerability of workers’ employment, the growth of inequality, the weakening of the strength of trade unions, etc.
Keywords: labour relations; neoliberalism; flexibilisation of employment; non-standard employment.
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.18282/hrms.v4i1.3479
Humanity at a crossroads: Will the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic remain unlearned?
Vitalina Butkaliuk
To cite this article: Butkaliuk, V. (2022). Humanity at a crossroads: Will the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic remain unlearned? [In Russian]. East European Scientific Journal, (6)(82), 48–56.
Abstract
The article analyses the social consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The author focuses on the study of patterns of disproportionate impact of the pandemic on different social groups depending on the level of material well-being, area (region, country) of living, gender, race, age and form of employment. Using a large body of data, the author convincingly demonstrates that high levels of economic, gender, racial and cross-country inequalities, due to institutional features of the neoliberal economy, have become even greater in the context of the pandemic. In addition, the article analyses the causes and social consequences of the new vaccine inequality. The author pays special attention to the study of the «subjective lessons» of the pandemic. In particular, it studies public opinion in different countries concerning pandemic social policies and the need/desirability of altering them in order to overcome the existing crisis and sustain future development. There is a strong public demand in different parts of the world to change the trajectory of social development in the direction of increasing social orientation of the state and the implementation of a «levelling up policy» on people’s opportunities and living conditions. The author concludes that the synergistic negative effect of the coronavirus and socio-economic factors (high levels of inequality, poverty, and many other social problems of today, contributing to poor health and accumulation of social disadvantage) is so high, that it is impossible to overcome this problem only by medical means or «targeted» social interventions. A real solution to this global problem requires a comprehensive systemic approach, including addressing deep inequalities and poverty.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, syndemic, inequality, neoliberalism, neo-Keynesianism.
To link to this article: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/globalnyy-kapitalizm-na-razdorozhie-ostanutsya-li-nevyuchennymi-uroki-pandemii-covid-19/viewer
Global dimension of labor inequality
Vitalina Butkaliuk
To cite this article: Butkaliuk, V. (2021). Inequality in the labour sphere: Global dimension [In Russian]. Sociology: Theory, Methods, Marketing, (2), 75–93.
Abstract
The transition of the world economy from Keynesianism to neoliberalism at the end of the twentieth century entailed tectonic shifts in the sphere of labor and employment. The organization of the production process on neoliberal principles under the conditions of the post-Fordist regime of capital accumulation has led to instability and insecurity of employment, a high level of labor underutilization, widespread labor poverty, as well as the rapidly increasing inequality that threatens social development today and stability of society. Based on the economic-sociological approach the author examines the reasons for the expansion and the specifics of the manifestation of inequality in the world of work in the context of the post-Fordist neoliberal reform of the global economic system. The article characterizes the key trends in the functioning of the labor market, contributing to the increase in inequality over the past decades (a decrease of the labor share in the national income, a reduction in the relationship between productivity and wages growth, the erosion of the trade union movement and the destruction of the welfare state). The main attention is paid to the study of the phenomenon of labor income inequality, its dynamics and forms of manifestation in the modern world, as well as to identify the impact on this type of inequality, both individual characteristics of workers and the characteristics of the industry, size of the enterprise, as well as the level of socio-economic development of the country. Based on the study of these processes, the author concludes that the redistribution of income in favor of capital and their high differentiation are the quintessence of neoliberal capitalism. The economic and political depletion of nation states in the context of neoliberal reforms led to their low resources, insufficient either to carry out a broad social policy and help those in need, or to adequately combat the consequences of crises characteristic of capitalism or any force majeure situations, such as, for example, the current COVID-19 pandemic. To get the global economy out of the current crisis requires the implementation of fundamental changes not only in the field of economic policy, but also in the entire system of distribution of public goods.
Keywords: neoliberalism, post-Fordism, labor, socio-economic inequality, labor inequality, labor income inequality.
To link to this article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353317812_Global_dimension_of_labor_inequality
Socio-economic outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic for Ukraine
Vitalina Butkaliuk
To cite this article: Butkaliuk, V. (2021). Socio-economic outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic for Ukraine [In Russian]. Sociology: Theory, Methods, Marketing, (4), 24–42. DOI: 10.15407/sociology2021.04.024
Abstract
The article presents a comprehensive analysis of the causes and consequences of both human and socio-economic losses incurred by Ukraine as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions introduced by the government in order to prevent its spread. The author’s attention is primarily focused on exploring the population’s social wellbeing, as well as examining changes in the quality of Ukrainians’ lives during the pandemic. The study of the above-mentioned issues is complemented by a sociological inquiry into public views on the coronavirus problem, efficacy of the authorities’ actions aimed at combating the pandemic, as well as the essence and real effectiveness of socioeconomic policy pursued by the Ukrainian government in present-day conditions. Drawing upon a systemic analysis, the author argues that the ongoing socioeconomic crisis in Ukraine, along with vaccine crunch, stems mainly from neoliberal policies implemented by the national government over the past three decades. The article argues the thesis about the transformation of the crisis of confidence, which has been fixed for a long time in Ukraine, into a crisis of vaccination, which today threatens with large humanitarian, economic and geopolitical losses. The research findings allow concluding that the COVID-19 pandemic acted as another trigger for the crisis, thereby intensifying and exacerbating the problems that had already existed in the national economy. The author’s arguments are bolstered by a vast array of domestic and foreign statistical data, along with the results of surveys conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (1994–2020), «Research & Branding Group» (2020–2021), as well as other Ukrainian sociological centers.
Keywords: COVID-19, neoliberalism, welfare, inequality, Ukraine.
To link to this article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357196344_Socio-economic_outcomes_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_for_Ukraine
