Failure. Russia Under Putin

Examines the significant failures Russia has faced under Vladimir Putin’s leadership and presents an important counterpoint to a broad range of studies emphasizing Russia’s resurrection, status as a persistent power, or successful military reform. Despite Putin’s claims of restoring Russia’s rightful place in the world, reviving the economic and industrial capacity destroyed in the 1990s, and improving living standards, data show that the gains from the oil price bonanza of 2000-2008 have long since vanished. The success Putin has achieved in centralizing power and repressing opposition now prevents any effective changes to address Russia’s long-term decline. Failures include the inability to diversify the economy, reduce corruption, reverse demographic and educational decline, alleviate poverty, or address social inequalities. This edited volume examines how Putin’s policy choices have led to Russia’s inexorable decline on the global stage. Depicting Russia’s inability under Vladimir Putin’s rule to improve critical spheres of its national life, aggravated by military belligerence and adventurism abroad, chapters detail how Putin's policies have severely limited Russia's development and institutional stability, leaving the country without a clear leadership transition mechanism or capacity to abandon flawed policies.

Harley Balzer is Emeritus Professor of Government and International Affairs and an associate faculty member of the Department of History at Georgetown University, USA. Steven A. Fisher is a career emerging markets finance professional and worked for thirty-five years with Citibank, including sixteen years in the former Soviet Union in senior leadership positions in Moscow and Kyiv.