Abstract
Both critics and defenders of Putin can find persuasive evidence in support of their position. Putin’s economic record certainly looks good compared to the chaos and immiseration of the 1990s. But the key arguments that divide the two camps revolve around the economy’s future trajectory: above all, whether or not growth can be sustained in the face of a levelling off or decline in global oil prices. So, 17 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia is still in a state of transition from the failed model of the past to an as yet uncertain future. This contribution begins by reviewing Russia’s economic trajectory under Putin and his predecessor Boris Yel’tsin, then evaluates whether Russia is, or is not, falling prey to the ‘resource curse’—the argument that its oil and gas wealth condemns it to economic instability, social inequality and political authoritarianism.
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Rutland, Peter
Published inBlog