Oxford University Press, Usa Conversations on Russia: Reform from Yeltsin to Putin

ISBN	9780195300611
Publisher	Oxford University Press Inc
Manufacturer	Oxford University Press Inc

This book is a compilation of interviews with people who have had a significant impact on Russian politics and society over the past fourteen years. The book is written by Padma Desai, an expert on Soviet studies, and it provides a broad and nuanced view of Russian politics and society during this time period. The interviews cover a variety of topics, including the reasons why the Soviet Union fell apart, the effects of economic reforms after Gorbachev, and the prospects for the Russian economy in the future. This book will be of interest to researchers and students in developmental economics, political economy, and Soviet studies, as well as educated laypeople interested in Russia.

Much of the discussion of Russia's recent post-Communist history has amounted, both in Russia and the West, to a series of monologues by strong-minded people with starkly divergent views. In contrast, Padma Desai's conversations with influential, intelligent participants and observers provide the reader with a broad, nuanced view of what has and has not happened in the last fourteen years, and why. Conversations from Russia will thus serve as a much-needed reference volume, both for academics who study Russia and for laypeople who only have vague perceptions of what has occurred in Russia since the collapse of Communism. In conversations with important figures like Boris Yeltsin, George Soros, Anatoly Chubais, and Yegar Gaidar, Desai considers questions like why the Soviet Union fell apart under Gorbachev, what went wrong with economic reforms after Gorbachev, whether the privatization of Russian assets could have been managed differently, and what the prospects are for the Russian economy in the near future. Desai, a recognized expert in the field of Soviet studies, ties the interviews together with an introduction, ultimately reaching her own judgment on each issue considered in the conversations. This book will appeal to researchers and students in developmental economics, political economy, and Soviet studies, and educated laypeople interested in Russia.