Product Description

The Russian revolution, collapse of the Soviet Union, and Russia's ensuing transformation belong to the greatest dramas of our time. Revolutions are usually messy and emotional affairs, challenging much of the conventional wisdom, and Russia's experience is no exception. This book focuses on the transformation from Soviet Russia to Russia as a market economy, and explores why the country has failed to transform into a democracy. It examines the period from 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet Union's Secretary General of the Communist Party, to the present Russia of Vladimir Putin. Aslund provides a broad overview of Russia's economic change, highlighting the most important issues and their subsequent resolutions, including Russia's inability to sort out the ruble zone during its revolution, several failed coups, and the financial crash of August 1998.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #341164 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 408 pages

About the Author
Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute since 2006, is the author of Building Capitalism: The Transformation of the Former Soviet Bloc (Cambridge University Press, 2001), How Russia Became a Market Economy (Brookings, 1995), Gorbachev's Struggle for Economic Reform, 2d ed. (Cornell University Press, 1991), and editor or coeditor of several books, including Revolution in Orange: The Origins of Ukraine's Democratic Breakthrough (2006). He has served as the director of the Russian and Eurasian Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2003-2006) and as codirector of the Carnegie Moscow Center's project on Economies of the Post-Soviet States.