E-Book Overview
Much of the discussion of Russia's recent post-Communist history has amounted, both in Russia and the West, to a series of monologues by strong-minded people with starkly divergent views. In contrast, Padma Desai's conversations with influential, intelligent participants and observers provide the reader with a broad, nuanced view of what has and has not happened in the last fourteen years, and why. Conversations from Russia will thus serve as a much-needed reference volume, both for academics who study Russia and for laypeople who only have vague perceptions of what has occurred in Russia since the collapse of Communism.In conversations with important figures like Boris Yeltsin, George Soros, Anatoly Chubais, and Yegar Gaidar, Desai considers questions like why the Soviet Union fell apart under Gorbachev, what went wrong with economic reforms after Gorbachev, whether the privatization of Russian assets could have been managed differently, and what the prospects are for the Russian economy in the near future. Desai, a recognized expert in the field of Soviet studies, ties the interviews together with an introduction, ultimately reaching her own judgment on each issue considered in the conversations. This book will appeal to researchers and students in developmental economics, political economy, and Soviet studies, and educated laypeople interested in Russia.
E-Book Content
Conversations on Russia: Reform from Yeltsin to Putin PADMA DESAI OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Conversations on Russia This page intentionally left blank Conversations on Russia Reform from Yeltsin to Putin Padma Desai 1 2006 1 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2006 by Oxford University Press Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Desai, Padma. Conversations on Russia : reform from Yeltsin to Putin / Padma Desai. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13 978-0-19-530061-1 ISBN 0-19-530061-0 1. Russia (Federation)—Economic policy—1991– . 2. Soviet Union —Economic policy—1986–1991. 3. Privatizing—Russia (Federation) I. Title. HC340.12.D467 2006 338.647'009'049—dc22 2005020203 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper For Abram Bergson in fond memory ächarya—devo bhava TaittirIya Upanishad 1.11.2 This page intentionally left blank Preface Conversations on Russia: Reforms from Yeltsin to Putin is a collection of interviews that I conducted between late 1999 and early 2005 both with leading Russian and American policymakers involved in Russia’s transformation from its Communist past, and with prominent analysts and intellectuals who commented on that process as it unfolded with dramatic twists and turns in 1992 under Boris Yeltsin. Not surprisingly, the changes have prompted countless surveys, reports, and commentaries. These attempts at explanation, however, have failed to provide a syste