Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia [Hardcover]

Stephen F. Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2000

An analysis of American policy in Russia since the collapse of communism. Cohen argues that the American policy of transforming Russia into a replica of America was ill-conceived and counter-productive, and contributed to a great human tragedy. He then proposes a fundamentally different American-Russian relationship.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When the Soviet Union collapsed nearly a decade ago, the U.S. adopted a policy of activist support for the successor regime of Boris Yeltsin and rarely questioned that strategy. Today, Russia is burdened with an economy in shambles, an alarming national health crisis and, many fear, nuclear insecurity. Anti-Americanism is on the rise and a career secret policeman heads the Kremlin, yet Washington has still not re-assessed its Russia policy. That worries Cohen, a Russia scholar with a track record for contrarian views. The end of the Cold War, he argues, exacted a harsher penalty on the Russian people than any military loss could have, and the "aid" proffered by the U.S., in the form of technocratic blueprints for free markets, is much to blame. In a chilling analogy, Cohen notes that the traditional role of the U.S. as ally to Russia is one in which Washington "pressured a collapsing Russia to remain in the carnage." Russia survived the allied blood-lettings of two World Wars, but Cohen sees the U.S.-prescribed "shock-therapy" as fatal. The result: societal and economic devastation so severe that it warrants a new Marshall Plan and threatens U.S. national security more than the Cold War ever did. Cohen's criticism is sharp and angry. He targets policy-makers and economic advisers for their ignorance of Russian history; he lambastes scholars for their misguided prognosis of Russia's progress; and he scorns foreign journalists for a more unforgivable sinAtouting the "Washington Consensus" in spite of the growing catastrophe surrounding them. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Cohen (Russian studies and history, New York Univ.) here presents an opinion not held by most U.S. officials and Russian "experts": that the so-called democratization of post-Soviet Russia has been a failure. The author lays out his theories in three parts: he describes how these experts crusaded for a Russia they wanted and, in doing so, managed to overlook what was really taking place in the country. Next, he includes a series of articles he has written since 1992, which further describes the actual political and economic upheaval that has been taking place there. Finally, he presents solutions to remedy Russia's woes and help bring it into the 21st century. Although Cohen is an accomplished author (Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution; Sovieticus: American Perceptions and Soviet Realities), his style tends to be gloating and melodramatic. However, this is a good collection that offers varying opinions of modern Russian history. For academic libraries.AJill Jaracz, Chicago
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393049647
• ISBN-13: 978-0393049640
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read, May 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia (Hardcover)

As an American businessman who has spent the last five years in Russia, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. My own experience leads me to fundamentally agree with its basic premise. American policy by its unconditional support of Yelstin's regime has essentially aided and abetted the legalized theft of Russia's most valuable resources, impoverished the country and led to an increasingly virulent anti American sentiment. Whether or not one agrees with the authors assertion that the nature of our economic advice (pure capitalism with minimal government involvement; essentially a copy of ourselves) was wrong for Russia, I can attest from ground level to his point as to the arrogance with which it was often delivered and the resentment it has caused. This combined with the ultimate failure of Yeltsin's economic policy, NATO encroachment and the Kosovo bombing has caused the Russian people to begin to turn away from America. At the same time America seems to be turning away from them. The consequences of this cannot be good and I hope that whoever is making policy today reads and considers the message of this book. As the author points out several times, Russia was a great country and undoubtedly will be great again. When that time comes, their view of how we treated them in their time of difficulty will matter. A lot.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Required reading re: the real Russia since 1992, July 12, 2001

By 

"dvd0001" (Lewisville, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia (Hardcover)

I have thought since the late 1980s that Dr. Cohen's analyses of Russia were closer to being true than those of other Western analysts. This book reinforces that impression for me. Although I found it written in an awkward style because of its general tone, Dr. Cohen's book is thoroughly documented in the footnotes section. I discovered quickly that the reason he couldn't put a specific person's name to a comment in the main text is because so many journalists/analysts had made the same comment.

At first I thought that the "Failed Crusade" meant the one put forward by Yeltsin and his cronies to reform Russia. I was wrong, it is the US's crusade to reform Russia into a US clone. While in theory that may sound like a good idea, in practice it has had disastrous consequences, some of which will last for decades and have serious implications for US-Russian foreign policy. More of us should be aware of the existing bias and arrogant attitude some Western policy-wonks, media reporters, and news analysts have regarding the collapse of the Soviet Union and the aftermath. Dr. Cohen has laid it out for us and it is our responsibility to see past the spin to what is really happening in Russia today.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant studies of the dire effects of capitalist restoration in Russia, August 4, 2011

By 

William Podmore (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia, Updated Edition (Paperback)

Stephen Cohen noted that the Soviet Union's self-destruction created `a Russian demographic catastrophe unprecedented in peacetime', `the unprecedented demodernisation of a twentieth century country', `the worst peacetime industrial depression of the 20th century', and `the worst economic and social devastation ever suffered by a modern country in peacetime'.

Between 1991 and 1998, GDP fell by 50 per cent, capital investment by 80 per cent, and livestock herds by 75 per cent. 75 per cent of the population were living at or below subsistence level.

The privatisations of the 1990s sold off a trillion dollars' worth of state assets for just $5 billion. Capital flight between 1992 and 2001 is variously estimated at $150 billion to $350 billion. All the time, the Clinton government backed the authors of this Catastroika, Gorbachev and Yeltsin.

Cohen argues that Russia needs a New Deal. It needs to direct investment into industrial and agricultural enterprises, to borrow to invest and to pay (and increase) workers' unpaid wages and pensions, to restore subsidies for education, science and welfare, to impose tariffs on imported goods to protect domestic enterprises, to tighten controls to stop bank malpractices and capital flight, to regulate key prices (especially food prices), and to renationalise at least some privatised enterprises, particularly in oil, gas, timber and strategic metals. (Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz agreed that some renationalisation is necessary.)

Russia should default; its debts should be forgiven, or exchanged for equity - in effect, investment - in Russian enterprises. Restructuring the debt, the usual IMF `remedy', only adds interest due, perpetuating the debt bondage.

Cohen's humane proposals run counter to the vicious policies proposed by the US state and its lackeys. For instance, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote, "it is in our interest that their economy not recover." Britain's International Institute for Strategic Studies agreed. The `young-reformer' and privatiser Alfred Kokh said, "the Russians deserved their miserable fate."