Rural Reform in Post-Soviet Russia

Rural Reform in Post-Soviet Russia reviews change in agricultural and rural life since 1990 through historical, political, sociological, and anthropological investigation. The contributors' interest is not so much in agriculture itself but in agrarian issues such as the relationship between rural interests and changing Russian institutions, the economic and social organization of rural households, and the quality of life in rural families and villages.

Woodrow Wilson Center Press

The collapse of the Soviet Union has led to the end of the collective farm, once the defining characteristic of Russian agrarian life. O'Brien (rural sociology, U. of Missouri-Columbia) and Wegren (political science, Southern Methodist U.) present 16 chapters that explore this massive change from political, sociological, historical, and anthropological perspectives. The major themes of the articles are the relative ability of agriculture to adapt to a market economy, the major obstacles blocking the transformation of Russian agriculture, the nature of the adaptations of households and villages to the post-Soviet realities, and the impact of those adaptations on prospects for further reforms. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Booknews

The collapse of the Soviet Union has led to the end of the collective farm, once the defining characteristic of Russian agrarian life. O'Brien (rural sociology, U. of Missouri-Columbia) and Wegren (political science, Southern Methodist U.) present 16 chapters that explore this massive change from political, sociological, historical, and anthropological perspectives. The major themes of the articles are the relative ability of agriculture to adapt to a market economy, the major obstacles blocking the transformation of Russian agriculture, the nature of the adaptations of households and villages to the post-Soviet realities, and the impact of those adaptations on prospects for further reforms. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

David J. O'Brien is a professor of rural sociology at the University of Missouri—Columbia. Stephen K. Wegren is an associate professor of political science at Southern Methodist University.