This book examines the record of the Brezhnev regime in its only
major domestic innovation: the attempt to modernise Soviet
agriculture. Under Brezhnev, the Soviets have invested more than
half a trillion dollars in the countryside, but the Kremlin has
remarkably little to show for the effort. The reason for the poor
return, Gustafson argues is that it is fundamentally flawed because
it has been conducted along traditional Soviet lines. For all its
innovative features the agricultural programme resembles nothing so
much as the Stalinist industrialising campaigns of the fifties. The
Soviets cannot afford another such 'reform'. Consequently the
agricultural programme cannot stand as a model for meeting the
complex problems the Soviets will have to deal with in the next
twenty years. Gustafson asserts that whatever solution they devise
will depend on whether the Soviet political elite can develop
resources and instruments of power more appropriate to the needs of
a mature industrial economy. But whether such changes are possible
rests on fundamental questions about the essence of power in the
Soviet regime.
General
Imprint: |
Cambridge UniversityPress
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
2009 |
First published: |
October 2008 |
Authors: |
Thane Gustafson
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 14mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
236 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-521-10187-5 |
Categories: |
Books >
Business & Economics >
Economics >
Political economy
|
LSN: |
0-521-10187-5 |
Barcode: |
9780521101875 |
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