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Title: Tragedy of Russia's Reforms: Market Bolshevism Against Democracy by Peter Reddaway, Dmitri Glinski ISBN: 1-929223-06-4 Publisher: United States Institute of Peace Pub. Date: 01 January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A well-balanced inquiry into the complexities of Russia
Comment: By applying structural methodology, the authors have in this book managed to disentangle and address a plethora of important issues attached to the transitional phase of the Russian modernisation. The principal claim of shock therapy being an outcome of the "democracy-capitalism" dichotomy is plausibly supported and illuminated by evidence proving the unsuitably pervasive influence of external institutions such as the IMF, coupled with presidential authoritarianism. The analysis accumulates considerable propensity and dynamic when the authors address the Western 'ready made, assumptions of social phenomena such as nationalism, democracy and populist movements. It delivers an insight of the intricacies inherent in the social structure. Although the authors attempt to remain largely impartial and empirical in their study, the reader cannot fail to get the feeling that the line of arguments, at times, is too one-dimensioned towards Yeltsin and the IMF. It would add more substance to the study, had the authors incorporated a wider discussion of the international dimension. I do largely agree with the author's criticism towards Yeltsin when they argue that the presidential institution enjoyed the decree to choose a more suitable path to economic modernisation. Moreover, I concur that there was a link between Yeltsin's domestic powers and the unconditional international support he enjoyed. This is not to say that external moods could or ought to have played a decisive role in shaping the future of Russia, but it should no doubt, in hindsight, have favoured the emergence of a civil society before the market. The authors have throughout the book pointed out several missed opportunities for a genuine democratic movement to take root. With Yeltsin out of the political circus, it remains to be seen if Putin will eventually allow the democratic forces in Russia, to infiltrate the socio-political layers and by so doing; put an end to another protracted and pernicious era in Russian history. I highly recommend this book for those who wish to understand Russia's place in today's and tomorrows economically globalised world.
Rating: 5
Summary: Read the book Anders Aslund tried to smear!
Comment: Yes, it's right, Anders Aslund, former advisor to the Russian Government under Yeltsin, took quotes out of context from Reddaway and Glinski's book in a futile attempt to paint Reddaway, perhaps the most prominent authority in the world on the Soviet dissident movement and the abuse of psychiatric hospitals under the Soviet regime, and Glinski, a prominent figure in the democratic movement in Russia, as fascists...in any case, this book is by far the best that has been written telling the truth of Boris Yeltsin's tragic turn to the right -- to the mafiya and to old figures in the Soviet nomenklatura, and the accompanying turn away from the democratic movement which brought him to power.
This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to go beyond the pronouncements of the American foreign policy establishment that Russia is on the road to democracy and learn what really happened.
Rating: 1
Summary: Polemical and one-dimensional
Comment: This book is a polemical diatribe against Boris Yeltsin and reformist politicians who worked for him. While parts of it contain fair summaries of political events, the analysis is entirely one-dimensional, seeking to blame Yeltsin and his policies for all RussiaÕs problems.
The authors make the typical mistake of assuming that economic transformation in Russia began in the 1990s. They make no mention of GorbachevÕs economic reforms, and apparently believe that central planning was still working right up until the early 1990s. They show no understanding of the Soviet economy or the reasons for its disintegration in the 1980s. Instead they blame everything on subsequent market reforms, though they show no real knowledge of what these reforms were.
Attempts to blame all RussiaÕs problems on economic reformers would be more convincing if they had not been forced out of the government every few months. In fact throughout the Yeltsin period Russian governments were dominated not by "young reformers" but by old-style Soviet industrialists, who also retained power in Russia's regions.
But the authors are not interested in such subtleties. Instead they rely on old cliches, such as the myth of "shock therapy" in Russia. In fact attempts to introduce Polish-style monetary policies were thwarted by corrupt beneficiaries of the status quo. As a result, the first half of the 1990s was characterised by hyperinflation. More than anything else, this failure to reform plunged RussiaÕs population into desperate poverty.
Economic reforms in Russia have been slow and partial in comparison with most east European countries, which have successfuly made a transition to a market economy. But the authors do not make any attempt to put Russian reforms in an international context. A comparison with Ukraine or Belarus would discredit the idea that post-Soviet problems were primarily caused by rash market reforms. A comparison with Estonia Ð the fastest-growing economy in the former Soviet Union Ð would show the effects of single-minded commitment to economic liberalism.
The alternatives the authors present completely lack substance. There is a vague reference to "dismantling central planning gradually" Ð a policy that was tried for several years during the 1980s, with disastrous consequences. But the authors Ð political scientists rather than economists Ð are not particularly interested in economic analysis, and opt for simple stereotypes about RussiaÕs economy and economic policies.
Unfortunately their political analysis is equally full of holes. They argue that the "Soviet middle class" could have provided the base for a political alternative Ð as if a few college professors could take on the combined weight of the Communist and post-Comunist nomenklatura (ironically the authors accuse Russian reformers of unrealistic thinking). Incredibly, the authors refer approvingly to the KGB as one of the "less corrupt institutions of the establishment". They are obviously unaware of the KGBÕs role in the mass theft of state property during the late Gorbachev period.
There are plenty of much better books on post-Soviet Russia. A good starting point is Thane GustafsonÕs "Capitalism: Russian-Style", which offers a balanced and well-researched description of RussiaÕs economic reforms.
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Title: Putin's Russia by Lilia Shevtsova ISBN: 0870032011 Publisher: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Pub. Date: February, 2004 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Piratization of Russia: Russian Reform Goes Awry by Marshall I. Goldman ISBN: 0415315298 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 10 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Logic of Economic Reform in Russia by Jerry F. Hough, Michael H. Armacost ISBN: 081573753X Publisher: The Brookings Institution Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Oligarchs: Wealth & Power in the New Russia by David E. Hoffman, David Hoffman ISBN: 1586480014 Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: 19 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Russia's Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin by Michael McFaul ISBN: 0801488141 Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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