The Disastrous 1990s in Russia

The Disastrous 1990s in Russia PDF Author: Konstantin Sidorov
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 1628944900
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
The USSR achieved military parity with the West in the 1970s and important arms control accords were signed that gave them a measure of security. Thus, the mid-1980s seemed a propitious time to take a daring leap toward capitalism with help from Russia?s new friends. But Perestroika, Glasnost and new legal codes designed with advice from Western experts led to an utter economic and social breakdown. Shocking concrete examples of the corruption, chaos and misery in the disastrous 1990s are related by the author, a Russian close to the administration in Moscow. If the intent was to turn Russia into a cowboy-capitalistic hell and undermine Russians' confidence in capitalism, it succeeded. But it did not succeed in stealing resources and destroying the West's long-term rival. No wonder the public was ready for a strong, smart, energetic leader to set a new direction...and so we have Putin.

The Disastrous 1990s in Russia

The Disastrous 1990s in Russia PDF Author: Konstantin Sidorov
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 1628944900
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
The USSR achieved military parity with the West in the 1970s and important arms control accords were signed that gave them a measure of security. Thus, the mid-1980s seemed a propitious time to take a daring leap toward capitalism with help from Russia?s new friends. But Perestroika, Glasnost and new legal codes designed with advice from Western experts led to an utter economic and social breakdown. Shocking concrete examples of the corruption, chaos and misery in the disastrous 1990s are related by the author, a Russian close to the administration in Moscow. If the intent was to turn Russia into a cowboy-capitalistic hell and undermine Russians' confidence in capitalism, it succeeded. But it did not succeed in stealing resources and destroying the West's long-term rival. No wonder the public was ready for a strong, smart, energetic leader to set a new direction...and so we have Putin.

The Disastrous 1990s in Russia

The Disastrous 1990s in Russia PDF Author: Konstantin Sidorov (Pseudonym)
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 1628944889
Category : Russia (Federation)
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
"The 1990s' dive into cowboy capitalism and "democracy" with advice from the West led to an utter breakdown in the former Soviet Union. Shocking concrete examples of the corruption, chaos and misery are related by an eye-witness. Facing destruction, they chose a strong, smart leader...and so we have Putin"--

Russia in 1990s

Russia in 1990s PDF Author: Irina Lobatcheva
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781493655250
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 94

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Book Description
Praised by some, lamented by others, few events have had as much impact on the world as the collapse of the Soviet Union in the fateful year of 1991. The dissolution of Soviet hegemony was referred to by many as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. Many Russians now regret that they let Soviet socialism vanish. This book focuses on the impact that it had on ordinary Russian citizens and provides an inside look at the decade of anarchy that followed through the eyes of the people who lived it.

The New Russia

The New Russia PDF Author: Lawrence R. Klein
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804741654
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
This work delivers the unpopular message that the West has played a pivotal role in the Russian economic disaster of the 1990s. The 26 contributions to this book examine this topic which is divided into three parts: theory, evidence, and policy.

Russia

Russia PDF Author: Robert Service
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674021082
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 438

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Book Description
The first history of modern Russia from 1991 to the present day by one of the leading historians of the 20th century USSR and Russia. In 1991, in a huge experiment with a people and in a state of euphoria, Boris Yeltsin abolished the USSR and recreated the Russian nation. At the point of its declaration is was in a state of economic and social disarray and yet there were high hopes. Hopes which have subsequently been dashed. Robert Service brings to bear his vast knowledge of the people and the country to put the recent upheavals into context and he shows that not everything changed for the worst 1991. The Gorbachev years have allowed the Russian people to give a priority to living a private life and shutting the door on the state. They could think what they liked. The could enjoy intellectual and religious freedom, and indulge in recreations their income would allow. Gays and Lesbians could come 'out'. The Youth culture could finally be loosed from contraints. This is a broad political, social and cultural history of one of the newest nations ever to be formed.

A Normal Country

A Normal Country PDF Author: Andrei Shleifer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
During the 1990s, Russia underwent an extraordinary transformation from a communist dictatorship to a multi-party democracy, from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, and from a belligerent adversary of the West to a cooperative partner. Yet a consensus in the US circa 2000 viewed Russia as a disastrous and threatening failure, and the 1990s as a decade of catastrophe for its citizens. Analyzing a variety of economic and political data, we demonstrate a large gap between this perception and the facts. In contrast to the common image, by the late 1990s Russia had become a typical middle-income capitalist democracy.

A Normal Country

A Normal Country PDF Author: Andrei Shleifer
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674015821
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
This book offers a firsthand glimpse into the intellectual challenges that Russia's turbulent transition generated. It deals with many of the most important reforms, from Gorbachev's half-hearted "perestroika," to the mass privatization program, to the efforts to build legal and regulatory institutions of a market economy.

The Last Empire

The Last Empire PDF Author: Serhii Plokhy
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465097928
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
On Christmas Day, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush's speech and has persisted for decades -- with disastrous consequences for American standing in the world. As prize-winning historian Serhii Plokhy reveals in The Last Empire, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the United States. On the contrary, American leaders dreaded the possibility that the Soviet Union -- weakened by infighting and economic turmoil -- might suddenly crumble, throwing all of Eurasia into chaos. Bush was firmly committed to supporting his ally and personal friend Gorbachev, and remained wary of nationalist or radical leaders such as recently elected Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Fearing what might happen to the large Soviet nuclear arsenal in the event of the union's collapse, Bush stood by Gorbachev as he resisted the growing independence movements in Ukraine, Moldova, and the Caucasus. Plokhy's detailed, authoritative account shows that it was only after the movement for independence of the republics had gained undeniable momentum on the eve of the Ukrainian vote for independence that fall that Bush finally abandoned Gorbachev to his fate. Drawing on recently declassified documents and original interviews with key participants, Plokhy presents a bold new interpretation of the Soviet Union's final months and argues that the key to the Soviet collapse was the inability of the two largest Soviet republics, Russia and Ukraine, to agree on the continuing existence of a unified state. By attributing the Soviet collapse to the impact of American actions, US policy makers overrated their own capacities in toppling and rebuilding foreign regimes. Not only was the key American role in the demise of the Soviet Union a myth, but this misplaced belief has guided -- and haunted -- American foreign policy ever since.

Russian Eurasianism

Russian Eurasianism PDF Author: Marlène Laruelle
Publisher: Woodrow Wilson Center Press
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has been marginalized at the edge of a Western-dominated political and economic system. In recent years, however, leading Russian figures, including former president Vladimir Putin, have begun to stress a geopolitics that puts Russia at the center of a number of axes: European-Asian, Christian-Muslim-Buddhist, Mediterranean-Indian, Slavic-Turkic, and so on. This volume examines the political presuppositions and expanding intellectual impact of Eurasianism, a movement promoting an ideology of Russian-Asian greatness, which has begun to take hold throughout Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. Eurasianism purports to tell Russians what is unalterably important about them and why it can only be expressed in an empire. Using a wide range of sources, Marlène Laruelle discusses the impact of the ideology of Eurasianism on geopolitics, interior policy, foreign policy, and culturalist philosophy.

The New Autocracy

The New Autocracy PDF Author: Daniel Treisman
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815732449
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Corruption, fake news, and the "informational autocracy" sustaining Putin in power After fading into the background for many years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia suddenly has emerged as a new threat—at least in the minds of many Westerners. But Western assumptions about Russia, and in particular about political decision-making in Russia, tend to be out of date or just plain wrong. Under the leadership of Vladimir Putin since 2000, Russia is neither a somewhat reduced version of the Soviet Union nor a classic police state. Corruption is prevalent at all levels of government and business, but Russia's leaders pursue broader and more complex goals than one would expect in a typical kleptocracy, such as those in many developing countries. Nor does Russia fit the standard political science model of a "competitive authoritarian" regime; its parliament, political parties, and other political bodies are neither fakes to fool the West nor forums for bargaining among the elites. The result of a two-year collaboration between top Russian experts and Western political scholars, Autocracy explores the complex roles of Russia's presidency, security services, parliament, media and other actors. The authors argue that Putin has created an “informational autocracy,” which relies more on media manipulation than on the comprehensive repression of traditional dictatorships. The fake news, hackers, and trolls that featured in Russia’s foreign policy during the 2016 U.S. presidential election are also favored tools of Putin’s domestic regime—along with internet restrictions, state television, and copious in-house surveys. While these tactics have been successful in the short run, the regime that depends on them already shows signs of age: over-centralization, a narrowing of information flows, and a reliance on informal fixers to bypass the bureaucracy. The regime's challenge will be to continue to block social modernization without undermining the leadership’s own capabilities.