The Tragedy of Soviet Market Economists
The Failed Quest to Civilise Russia, 1972–2022
Author(s): Tobias Rupprecht
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The Tragedy of Soviet Market Economists
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In this path-breaking history, Tobias Rupprecht offers a revisionist account of Russia's post-Soviet marketisation from the perspective of the advisors and ministers who oversaw this transformation. Based on extensive interviews with economists and research in state and private archives, he uncovers a significant minority of economic liberals from late Soviet academic and dissident circles who sought to chart a new path, believing free prices and private property were the foundations of a 'civilised country'. This provides a vital challenge to the dominant narrative that neoliberal advisors and organisations imposed harmful reforms on Russia after the collapse of Communism. Liberal reformers faced a profound dilemma – one for which Western advisors had no solution either: should they commit to democratic political activism and risk irrelevance, or align themselves with those in power and be co-opted by an authoritarian state determined to reassert its imperial strength?
'This is a book of many virtues, but undoubtedly the most outstanding one is its unrelenting iconoclasm. The conventional wisdom holds that Russia was wrecked by neoliberal reformers who followed disastrous Western advice, and those who want to stick to it will surely be annoyed by Rupprecht's meticulously crafted and substantiated arguments. But intellectually alert readers will certainly find these arguments profoundly stimulating.'
Venelin I. Ganev, Miami University, Ohio
'Tobias Rupprecht offers the best account yet of Russia's liberal reformers in the 1990s. In doing so, he dismantles the familiar story of Western driven 'shock therapy.' The debate about Russia's market transition can now begin anew, this time with a more nuanced understanding of the country's liberals in tow and Rupprecht's essential book as its anchor.'
Fritz Bartel, Texas AM University
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