Overview

In the history of Russian economic ideas, a peculiar mix of anthropocentrism and holism provided fertile breeding ground for patterns of thought that were in potential conflict with the market. These patterns, did not render the emergence of capitalism in Russia impossible. But they entailed a deep intellectual division between adherents and opponents of Russia’s capitalist transformation that made Russia’s social evolution unstable and vulnerable to external shocks. This study offers an ideational explanation of Russia’s relative failure to establish a functioning market economy and thus sets up a new and original perspective for discussion. In post-Soviet Russia, a clash between imported foreground ideas and deep domestic background ideas has led to an ideational division among the elite of the country. Within economic science, this led to the emergence of two thought collectives, (in the sense of Ludvik Fleck), with entirely different understandings of social reality. This ideational division translated into incoherent policy measures, the emergence of institutional hybrids and thus, all in all, into institutional instability. Empirically, the book is based on a systematic, qualitative analysis of the writings of Soviet/Russian economists between 1987 and 2012. This groundbreaking book makes an important contribution to Central Eastern and Eastern European area studies and to the current debate on ideas and institutions in the social sciences.

Full Product Details

Author:   Joachim Zweynert (Witten Institute for Institutional Change, Witten/Herdecke University, Germany)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.290kg
ISBN:  

9780367891121

ISBN 10:   0367891123
Pages:   144
Publication Date:   12 December 2019
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

"Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 The Role of Ideas in Great Transformations Transition as functional differentiation Constructivist institutionalism and the structure/agency-problem What is special about Russia What is special about Russia I: Lack of liberal underground discourses What is specific about Russia II: The struggle between two thought collectives What is Specific about Russia III: Deep ideational backgrounds 3 The Legacy of the Brezhnev Period: 1971-1986 Why deal with the Brezhnev period? Self-organization versus mobilization The economics of developed socialism The origins of the concept The economic mechanism Base and superstructure Commodity-money relations Conclusion 4 Cracking the Protective Belt: 1987-1992 Back to the 1960s and taking it further What was Soviet ideology? Perestroika and the Soviet telos Early debates in Voprosy ekonomiki, and the new textbook on political economy The inflow of Western liberal ideas The MEiMO debate on Western reforms The Debates in the general interest press The decline of Soviet ideology Paradigm shift or continuity? 5 Towards a Precarious Consensus: 1993-1998 Western textbooks, Russian reality The intellectual background to shock therapy Post-industrial society and the comeback of slavophile ideas Regulation, economic security, and the ""Russian economic school"" The rise of Russian institutionalism A new consensus? 6 In Search of a ""Russian Way"": 1999-2006 Taking stock of post-socialist reforms The discussion about the stabilization fund The nationalist turn"

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Author Information

Joachim Zweynert is Professor of International Political Economy at Witten/ Herdecke University, Germany. He studied economics and political science at Hamburg University, Germany.

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