Russia the state

Revolution and Reform in Eurasia

Description:  The collapse of central authority in the Soviet Union in 1991 ushered in a period of revolutionary transformations for the states that emerged from the union. The leaders of Russia, the USSR’s successor, since then have struggled to reestablish central authority, while at the same time trying to keep the country from further disintegration, establish a democratic polity, and institute a market economy. The case contrasts different approaches adopted by Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin and concludes with a vision outlined by Russia’s third post-Soviet president, Dmitry Medvedev. The case focuses on problems of state authority; fiscal capacity; institutionalization of political parties; relations between the federal center and provincial governments; relations between the state and big business; economic policy; and models of economic development, while The State (701077) frames the discussion in a larger context of the relationships between the state, order, and property, and provides a framework for how states vary from place to place and over time.

Please read Russia: Revolution and Reform and The State, and skim Russia: Tribulations and Toska, (which supplements and updates the cases) and consider the following assignment questions:

1 What were the key challenges facing Russian business and political leaders during the 1990s? During the 2000s? And today?

2 How should the U.S., European, and Russian governments respond to instability in Ukraine? In Syria and the Near East?