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This book provides a broad and comprehensive survey of the development of capitalism in Russia from the collapse of the Soviet economic system to the present, and includes the results of substantial new research on the current state of a wide range of Russian enterprises. Simon Clarke – a well-known authority in this area: surveys the old Soviet system charts the progress through the early post-Soviet period, when neo-liberal theorists’ ‘shock therapy’ did not lead to the immediate development of a capitalist market economy, and traditional enterprises became hugely loss-making considers the crisis of 1998, and its effects, which included the curtailment of speculation, and growing investment in the old industrial sector, which in turn put the new small and medium sized enterprises under increasing pressure discusses the wider theoretical implications of the Russian experience for other transitional economies.
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The Development of Capitalism in Russia
This book provides a broad survey of the development of capitalism in Russia from the collapse of the soviet economic system to the present, and includes the results of substantial new research on the working practices of a wide range of Russian enterprises. It surveys, briefly, the old soviet system, and goes on to chart progress through the early post-soviet period, when neo-liberal theorists’ ‘shock therapy’ did not lead to the immediate development of a capitalist market economy. It demonstrates that, far from promoting a transition to capitalism, the economic crisis of the 1990s reinforced the typical characteristics of soviet management. It identifies vertical and horizontal lines of division and conflict within the Russian enterprise and concludes that, while the practices of senior management have been radically transformed, changes in personnel and production management have been much more limited. The book concludes with a discussion of the wider implications of the Russian experience, addressing the question of whether or not a specifically Russian ‘variety of capitalism’ is emerging. Simon Clarke is Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick. He has been co-ordinating research projects in the field of labour and employment with colleagues in the former Soviet Union since 1991 and has published extensively with his colleagues in English and Russian. His current research focuses on trade unions in the Former Soviet Union, China and Vietnam.
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The Development of Capitalism in Russia Simon Clarke
The Development of Capitalism in Russia
Simon Clarke
First published 2007 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2007 Simon Clarke This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to