Russia's Capitalist Revolution: Why Market Reform Succeeded and Democracy Failed [Paperback]

Anders Aslund (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

The central paradox about contemporary Russia is why capitalism has taken root, but democracy has not. Anders Aslund provides a crisp, comprehensive, and compelling answer. Russia s Capitalist Revolution will become a classic overnight, the standard by which all future books on the last two decades of Soviet and Russian history will be judged. --MICHAEL McFAUL, director, Center on Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law, Stanford University

Anders Aslund has done for the collapse of Russian communism what E. H.Carr did for the Bolshevik Revolution. In a series of seminal contributions, he takes you through the events, helps you distinguish the personalities from the policies, and explains what worked and for whom. You should really read all of Aslund s collected works on the subject, which must run to at least as many pages as Carr s opus. But if you would like all the key ideas in one easy to read place, with clear policy implications, and a view of the future that is part encouraging and part chilling, this volume is for you. --SIMON JOHNSON, director, Research Department, International Monetary Fund

Anders Aslund s Russia s Capitalist Revolution is an exceptionally well-informed account of Russia s tortuous evolution since the reforms of Gorbachev. It reveals why the economic reforms succeeded while the political democratization, began in the 1990s, did not. Based on both wide reading and personal experiences in Russia, it is an authoritative study of a subject of great importance not only to Russians but the rest of the world. --RICHARD PIPES, Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of History Emeritus, Harvard University

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Peterson Institute (October 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881324094
• ISBN-13: 978-0881324099
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #819,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute "must-have" for modern Russian history shelves, very highly recommended., February 6, 2008

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Russia's Capitalist Revolution: Why Market Reform Succeeded and Democracy Failed (Paperback)

Economist Anders Aslund presents Russia's Capitalist Revolution: Why Market Reform Succeeded and Democracy Failed, a recounting of modern Russian political and economic history from the mid-1980s to the present. Examining statistical and historical evidence with a critical eye, Aslund points out that even though market reforms have flourished, and Russia is currently in a relatively productive economic state (compared to much of its modern history), the government under Vladimir Putin has become so strongly centralized and authoritarian as to resemble that of former czar Nicholas. Russia's Capitalist Revolution intricately ferrets out the causes driving this proud nation's dual transformation, with the eye-opening revelation that the changes most likely to take were the radical and sudden rather than slow and gradual. An absolute "must-have" for modern Russian history shelves, very highly recommended.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, June 5, 2008

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Z. Chen "bestbuy" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Russia's Capitalist Revolution: Why Market Reform Succeeded and Democracy Failed (Paperback)

Economist Anders Aslund presents Russia's Capitalist Revolution: Why Market Reform Succeeded and Democracy Failed, a recounting of modern Russian political and economic history from the mid-1980s to the present. Examining statistical and historical evidence with a critical eye, Aslund points out that even though market reforms have flourished, and Russia is currently in a relatively productive economic state (compared to much of its modern history), the government under Vladimir Putin has become so strongly centralized and authoritarian as to resemble that of former czar Nicholas. Russia's Capitalist Revolution intricately ferrets out the causes driving this proud nation's dual transformation, with the eye-opening revelation that the changes most likely to take were the radical and sudden rather than slow and gradual. An absolute "must-have" for modern Russian history shelves, very highly recommended.

6 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Anders Aslund: A True Russia Hater, March 30, 2008

By 

Russian Studies (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Russia's Capitalist Revolution: Why Market Reform Succeeded and Democracy Failed (Paperback)

Poorly written and lacking in new insight. The book reads as if the author never visited Russia, but instead absorbed his knowledge through the reading of newspaper clippings. The undercurrent of Aslund's writing exposes his utter contempt for all that is Russian. Sorry I spent $24 on this dribble.