Abstract:

Since 1997 the Russian economy has gone from crisis to recovery, from slump to recuperation, often frustrating the forecasts of the most highly regarded observers. If, on the other hand, Russia’s performance is assessed over a long period, that is, since the 1960s, then it would appear that it has got stuck at the level attained under Brezhnev, which is obviously not the case for its competitors on the world stage. It would also seem that Russia has been confined to a mediocre level of economic development, and that, for over a century. In this context, the best that Putin’s actions can hope for is to advance Russia to the high position of the “very average” range, in which its economy is positioned in comparison to western economies. But for that, it would be necessary to reform the seriously inefficient civil service, as much on the national as the local scale. It is not certain that the authoritarian drift in power, which has been taking place for two years, is the best way to achieve the essential modernisation of the country’s structures.

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