http://www.rferl.org/content/brezhnevs-children/24765431.html
Russia is not the Soviet union. The regime in Russia has little in common with the Soviet regime. To imply that the process of reforming Russia represents a continuation of attempts to reform the Soviet regime, as Whitmore does, distorts reality beyond recognition.
Failures of reform under the Soviet regime were mostly due to features of that regime which have disappeared: (1) the commando-administrative economic system, (2) the ideological...
It would be irresponsible if those who make public policy did not pay serious attention to expert knowledge. If experts advise that a proposed policy will fail, it would be irresponsible for policy makers to ignore their advice. Advocating the impossible would appear to be absurd. Does this mean policy makers must resign themselves to accepting whatever advice experts give them? Must it be irrational for policy makers to maintain hope that a proposed policy will work, although experts tell them it...
Disagreement about success and failure, and about learning and not learning from mistakes, far from being peculiar to debates about socialism, is endemic to all kinds of political debates. Debates about socialism have, however, been much complicated by the problem that it has never been clear whether socialism is to be regarded as a purely utopian ideal or, quite on the contrary, as an unavoidable necessity, or at least a feasible political program.
Throughout most of history, until early in...
Of course, I understand what you write about the sorry state of affairs in Russia. I am far more optimistic than you about Russia, but can't disagree with most of what you say. Most discouraging is that I wonder what can feed the hopes of your generation, on which the future of the country depends. Of course, there is much about Russia that is good, and which gives grounds for hope. Yet, this does not negate your arguments.
To be sure, there has been enormous progress in the last twenty...
Comment on Interview with Alena Ledeneva http://www.rferl.org/content/interview-russia-alena-ledeneva-sistema/24944910.html
Ledeneva is one of the few to have confronted the reality that in order to reform Russia and the other post-Soviet republics, one has to understand the mechanisms underlying the system.
Interestingly, it was Putin’s answer to her question about corruption that opened Ledeneva's eyes to the existence of “The System” and its importance. Many believe...