Linda J. Cook received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1985. She is currently a professor in the Political Science and Slavic Studies Department at Brown University, and associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. Cook has authored "The Soviet Social Contract and Why it Failed" (Harvard, 1993), "Postcommunist Welfare States: Reform Politics in Russia and Eastern Europe," (Cornell, 2007 pap 2013). as well as numerous journal articles and other publications. Her research has been supported by the Davis Center, the National Council on East European and Eurasian Studies, the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, and the Fulbright Foundation. She is currently researching the effects of recession on Russia’s welfare state, with a focus on health care.