Collapse of an empire : lessons for modern Russia / / Yegor Gaidar ; translated by Antonina W. Bouis.

• Author: ProQuest (Firm); Gaidar, E. T.
• TeilnehmendeR: ProQuest (Firm)
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Language: English; Russian
• Physical Description: xviii, 332 p. :; ill.

"Uses world history, the Soviet experience, and economic analysis to demonstrate why Russian nostalgia for empire could lead to repeating past strategies that result in instability, leaving Russia vulnerable to economic downturns"--Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

The grandeur and the fall of empires -- Modern economic growth and the era of empires -- Crisis and the dismantling of overseas empires -- Problems of dissolving territorially integrated empires -- The yugoslav tragedy -- Authoritarian regimes: the causes of instability -- Challenges in the early stages of modern economic growth and authoritarianism -- The instability of authoritarian regimes -- Mechanics of the collapse of authoritarianism -- The oil curse -- The Spanish prologue -- Resource wealth and economic development -- Specifics of the oil market -- Regulating the oil market in the twentieth century -- Challenges related to price fluctuations of commodities: Mexico and Venezuela -- In search of a way out: a response to the dangers of unstable commodity pricing -- Cracks in the foundation: the Soviet Union in the early 1980s -- Growing problems and bad decisions -- Food supply problems -- Food shortages-a strategic challenge -- The USSR as the largest importer of food -- Oil in Western Siberia: the illusion of salvation -- A drop in oil prices: the final blow -- The collapse of the USSR: the unexpected becomes the rule -- The political economy of external shocks -- Deteriorating conditions for foreign trade: political alternatives -- The ussr and the drop in oil prices: the essence of the choice -- A series of mistakes -- Mounting problems in the soviet economy -- The hard currency crisis -- Economic and political liberalization against the background of the hard currency and financial problems -- Development of the crisis of the socialist system -- Political credits -- The price of compromise -- The crisis of the empire and the nationality question -- Loss of control over the economic and political situation -- The currency crisis -- From crisis to catastrophe -- "Extraordinary efforts" instead of reforms -- On the brink of default -- On the path to state bankruptcy -- The grain problem -- Prices skyrocket -- Money and the fate of the empire -- The fall -- The political economy of the failed coup -- Political death throes -- Political disintegration: economic consequences -- A civilized divorce.