Overview
Based on extensive research, this trilogy provides new insights into Post-Soviet transformations without taking refuge in the traditional assumption that Russia is unique. Using powerful analytical tools, this trilogy marks the re-integration of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) into the main current of political science. An invaluable resource for all those interested in Russia and the Post-Soviet states.This first volume focuses on state, sectoral, and transnational actors from a predominantly rational choice perspective. Includes an extensive introduction by the editor which uses additional material gathered by the project team on two polls, 1999 and 2000, which, in addition to the individual studies, provide sufficient data to obtain unprecedented insights into the basic preferences and the logic of action of the main players in Russia. The outcomes of this research will be particularly relevant for students, researchers, journalists and decision-makers interested in Russia and the Post-Soviet states' politics, international relations, economics, social policy and sociology.Author Biography: Professor. Dr. Klaus Segbers, Institute of East European Studies, Free University of Berlin, Germany.
Synopsis
The first volume in a series exploring the ongoing transformation of the Former Soviet Union (primarily Russia) as a process shaped by the two main factors of institutions and structures from Soviet times, and impacts related to globalization. Segbers (political and social sciences, Free U., Germany) presents 17 studies that look at the differential incentives and constraints on various institutional and organizational actors as the reason why the transformation process is heterogeneous, and at times contradictory. Assuming a weak institutional framework in which regions, economic sectors and huge enterprises, social and societal interest groups, and bureaucracies compete and form coalitions, the studies look at the role of the international financial organizations, the firms Gazprom and Lukoil, the Russian mining and metal sector, the financial sector, mass media and telecommunications, armaments enterprises, the agricultural sector, the managerial class, small and medium enterprises, and the middle class. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)