Although various factors point to a more arduous and longer transition in Russia than in Eastern Europe, the broad policy approach should be similar. A necessary condition for effective macroeconomic stabilization is the imposition of hard budget constraints on enterprises. Financial assistance from the Government and the central bank to enterprises must be strictly controlled to ensure compatibility with both inflation objectives and the creation of incentives for reform. While Russia needs external financial assistance, it must be willing and able to pursue economic policies that ensure that the assistance has the desired effects, especially macroeconomic stability and systemic reform.

What impact has Russia's chosen path of reform had on the development of law after the collapse of the communist regime? This collection of essays examines how Russia's distinctive traditions of law-and lawlessness-are shaping the current struggle for economic reform in the country. Nine renowned scholars, chosen from specialties in history, politi

Undaunted by the potholed road the Russians are traveling towards a market economy, Marshall Goldman here explains not only what has happened under Boris Yeltsin, but also what is likely to happen next in the most enigmatic nation in the world.

This title was first published in 2000: As the El'tsin era has now drawn to a close, numerous questions remain unanswered regarding the course of Russia's post-Communist traditions. El'tsin's exit from the presidential stage provides an opportunity to assess the achievements of Russia's multi-faceted reforms, to explain the factors that have most shaped the reform process, and to identify the trends that are likely to continue under a presidential successor. This volume embodies such an effort. Its contents are the product of a conference held in May 1999 at the Federal Institute for East European and International Studies in Cologne, Germany. The institute convened an international group of scholars, representing a variety of academic approaches to the study of transition economies in general, and Russia in particular. The title of this volume has been taken from the overarching theme of the conference. The goal was determine the extent to which pre-existing structures and norms of economic and political life have been fundamentally altered by the El'tsin administration's reform campaigns and how these factors themselves have influenced the reform process.

Transitions from socialism to capitalism are complex, both in theory and practice. Russian Economic Reform enables the reader to come to a much better understanding of these momentous changes, by providing a clear and accessible account of the major features of transition. It argues that attempts to portray the reform process is a disaster are misconceived, because they fail to take account of just how badly the pre-reform economy was doing. Many of the problems that are emerging now have their antecedents in the earlier economic system.

This work examines the political and organizational factors that have shaped Russian economic reforms since the demise of the Soviet Union. The author draws on a variety of sources - including interviews conducted in Ekaterinburg, Voronezh and Smolensk - to present a multilayered portrait of the successes, failures and umintended consequences of the reforms. The book covers: the consequence of dissolving the USSR and Russia's role in the CIS; political transition; economic reform; assessment of the political and social implications of neo-liberal moneterism and of the voucher privatisation programme; and both regional and federal structures and processes.