Health and Citizenship in Post-Socialist Romania

Abstract

Thirty-five years of post-socialist transformations have brought about an unequal and unhealthy citizenry substantially dispossessed of the social rights to a living wage and comprehensive and universal access to public healthcare. This is illustrated by adopting a political economy perspective that views citizenship and democracy as constituted not only of political dimensions, but also of social ones. We draw on T. H. Marshall’s understanding of the roles that living wages and universal access to public services play in the social reproduction of citizenry and the enactment of social rights. We show that Romania’s post-socialist neoliberal and dependent development pathway has been accompanied by a citizenship model predicated on low wages, precarious living and working conditions, reduced labor protection, rising inequalities, and insufficient support for social reproduction because of constricted social benefits and public services. Together, these factors have contributed to an inordinate disease burden weighing upon Romania’s population, which has compressed its life expectancy despite recent economic growth and rise in minimum wages.