Russia's Economic Modernization: The Causes of a Failure
In this short study of attempts that have been made in recent years to modernize the Russian economy, the author explains why they have all ended in failure. Unlike most experts, he focuses on politics and ideology.
He stresses that the idea of modernization runs counter to the historical vision that is now propagated by the Russian leadership, to the system of governance that it has chosen and to Russia’s current path of isolation from the West. In his view, such political choices have rendered modernization of the Russian economy unfeasible. The author also points to other problems: the effects of privatisation, which have made investment in new industrial facilities unprofitable, the declining quality of business leaders who are chosen for their political loyalty and the lack of independent big businesses that could insist on reforms being carried out.
Vladislav Inozemtsev is a Russian economist, Doctor of economic science and the founder and director of the Centre for the Study of Post-industrial Society (founded 1996). Between 2002 and 2012, he was Editor-in-Chief of the journals Svobodnaia Mysl and Russia in Global Affairs, as well as of the Russian version of Le Monde diplomatique. A professor at Moscow State University (MGU) and the Higher School of Economics, he is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
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Russia's Economic Modernization: The Causes of a Failure
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