A History of Pensions in Ukraine

Abstract

Starting with the early examples of legal regulation by positive laws, the history of pensions in Ukraine has been studied. It has been found that the history of pension regulation, along with theory, is an integral part of social security law since it illustrates the dynamics of legal norms, which in turn allows lawmakers to avoid errors and predict their consequences during law reforms. It has been proved that the history of social security law should cover not only pensions that were established in the territory of Dnieper and Sloboda Ukraine but also pension regulation in Western Ukraine. Taking into account the fragmentation of the Ukrainian lands in the second half of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, historical development stages of pensions in these territories have been classified into the following periods: (1) during the Russian Empire, which included Dnieper and Sloboda Ukraine; (2) during the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, which included Eastern Galicia and Bukovina; (3) development of pensions in Western Ukraine that was part of the Second Polish Republic during the interwar period; (4) pensions during the Soviet period; (5) development of pensions during the modern period (from the declaration of independence of Ukraine to the present day). It has been found that pension regulation in Western Ukraine during the interwar period was one of the most advanced in Europe since it was significantly influenced by Prussian (Bismarck’s) social law. It has been concluded that one of the features of pension regulation during the Soviet period was its discrimination that evolved from non-payments of pensions to some class enemies (the White Guards and their families, the nobility, the clergy, etc.) to discrimination based on profession (workers and peasants). Also, it has been proved that for the first time in the history of social security the latter was used by the Soviet government as an instrument in order to restrain and punish its own citizens. Four development stages of pension regulation, which was established after 1991, have been distinguished. The history of pensions has been defined as part of the social security law doctrine.