The Political Economy of Post-Soviet Russia

by Vladimir Tikhomirov

Release Date: 05 August, 2000

Edition: Hardcover

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A Tragedy of Errors

This is a minute (though never tedious) chronology and phenomenology of the Reform Movement in Russia after communism. It is an exquisite obituary of the Russia that could have been and an indictment of the Russia that is and was. Dozens of detailed and thought provoking tables and graphs support observations that are never trite (though often familiar). It is a good tome of historiography. But it lacks a historiosophic element. It offers no exegesis, either explicit or implicit (through the ordering of events, for instance). In other words, it is not out to prove a thesis or a theory and it provides no paradigmatic platform. In the absence of these crucial elements of good history-writing - the book is reduced to the meticulous annals of the rise and fall of a dream. These shortcomings are somewhat ameliorated in Chapter 6 'The Dynamics of Political Change' where the author endeavours to present a coherent framework of trend analysis. Still, despite the profusion of economic content in the book, the author seems to me to be more at ease with matters political. Thus, the 'economy' in 'political economy' never enjoys the closure it deserves. Moreover, many things are disregarded or glossed over. A Russian paranoid would probably have read a lot into these omissions. The all-pervasive, pernicious and deleterious criminality of Russia merits only a perfunctory mention in the book. Arguably, the annals of Russian crime post Soviet times would make an adequate history of Russia itself as well. To relegate it to the footnotes is a curious choice, to use an understatement. Another neglected factor is the foreign experts. Perhaps understandably so, as Mr. Tikhomirov is the Deputy Director of the Contemporary Europe Research Centre at the University of Melbourne. But these experts were always a part of the problem and never its solution. But it is a rewarding and eye-opening read, replete with well-researched data and academic acumen. Writing about Russia requires the eloquence of Churchill and the erudition of a Gibbon. As long as these two gentlemen are indisposed - I recommend to buy Mr. Tikhomirov's opus. Sam Vaknin, author of 'After the Rain - How the West Lost the East'