The Russian Economy

In Henry Hale, Juliet Johnson, and Tomila Lankina, ed., Developments in Russian Politics 10 (Bloomsbury UK and Duke University Press, 2024), 107-125.

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This chapter provides an overview of Russian economic policy making since the Soviet collapse. It begins with the major challenges that Russia’s post-Soviet leaders have faced, and then discusses the evolution of the contemporary Russian economic system over four time periods: 1) transformation, 1992-1999; 2) managed liberalism, 2000-2007; 3) failed modernization, 2008-2013; and 4) retrenchment and realignment, 2014 to the present.

The Global Economy/L’Économie Mondiale

With Peter Dietsch, Vincent Arel-Bundock, Mark R. Brawley, Allison Christians, Krzysztof Pelc, and Ari Van Assche.

In Frédéric Mérand and Jennifer Welsh, ed., Afterworld: Long COVID and International Relations (Ottawa University Press, 2024): 53-68 and Le monde d’après : Les consequences de la COVID-19 dans les relations internationales (Université de Montréal Press, 2023): 73-89.

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COVID-19 sparked the largest global crisis of the 21st century, extending well beyond public health. For some, the impact was swift and dramatic, with the pandemic pushing tens of millions into poverty and creating extreme food insecurity; for others, the transformations are still bubbling under the surface. Efforts to arrest the spread of COVID-19 entailed far-reaching forms of government intervention and the extensive use of new technologies. Questions thus remain as to whether the societal changes brought about by COVID-19 will endure in the post-pandemic period.

The Central Bank of Russia: From Central Planning to Inflation Targeting

In Peter Conti-Brown and Rosa Lastra, ed., Research Handbook on Central Banking (Edward Elgar, 2018), 94-116

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Central banks occupy a unique space in their national governments and in the global economy. The study of central banking however, has too often been dominated by an abstract theoretical approach that fails to grasp central banks’ institutional nuances. This Handbook takes a wider angle, focusing on the institutions of central banking.

Europe’s Monetary Union in Crisis

In Rohinton Medhora and Dane Rowlands, ed., Crisis and Reform: Canada and the International Financial System, Volume 28 of Canada Among Nations (Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2014), 177-192

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The 28th edition of the Canada Among Nations series examines Canada and the global financial crisis, and the country’s role in the international financial system.

The Russian Federation: International Monetary Reform and Currency Internationalization

Paper #4, Series on The BRICS and Asia, Currency Internationalization and International Monetary Reform, Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Asian Development Bank, and Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research, June 2013, 1-27.

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This paper explores Russian leaders’ views on reforming the international monetary system (IMS), the potential role of the ruble in an emerging multicurrency world, and the complex relationship between ruble and renminbi (RMB) internationalization.

The Czech Republic and Poland: The Limits of Europeanization

In Kenneth Dyson and Martin Marcussen, Central Banks in the Age of the Euro: Europeanization, Convergence, and Power (Oxford University Press, 2009): 221-240. With Rachel Epstein.

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Both studies of political power and Europeanization studies have tended to neglect central banks. As the age of the euro reaches its 10th anniversary, it is timely to reflect on what it means for central banks, which have been at the forefront of the establishment of Economic and Monetary Union in the European Union. Central banks have been caught up in a major historic political project. What does it mean for them? What does the age of the euro tell us about the power of central banks, their Europeanization and whether they are coming to resemble each other more closely?

Transplanting Institutions: Central Bank
Independence in the Post-Communist World

APSA Comparative Politics Newsletter 19:2 (2008): 11-14.

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Freeing Finance: The U.S.-Russia WTO Agreement on Financial Services

In “Russia and the WTO: A Progress Report,” NBR Special Report 12 (March 2007): 19-23.

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In this report, five distinguished specialists on Russian politics and economics assess the remaining obstacles to full Russian WTO membership as well as the likely effects of Russian accession on the country’s economic development and relations with the West.

Pyrrhic Victories? The Implications of Success in Post-Communist Central Bank Transformation

in Hilary Appel, ed., Evaluating Success and Failure in Postcommunist Reform (Keck Center Monograph Series, Claremont McKenna 2005): 1-20.

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This volume investigates the fate of economic reforms in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Religion after Communism: Belief, Identity, and the Soviet Legacy in Russia

In Juliet Johnson, Marietta Stepaniants, and Benjamin Forest, ed., Religion and Identity in Modern Russia: The Revival of Orthodoxy and Islam (Ashgate 2005): 1-25

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Focusing on the roles of Russian Orthodoxy and Islam in constituting, challenging and changing national and ethnic identities in Russia, this study takes Tsarist and Soviet legacies into account, paying special attention to the evolution of the relationship between religious teachings and political institutions through the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Past Dependency or Path Contingency? Institutional Design in Post-Communist Financial Systems

In Grzegorz Ekiert and Stephen Hanson, ed., Capitalism and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe: Assessing the Legacy of Communist Rule (Cambridge University Press 2003): 289-316.

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Including essays by several leading contemporary specialists, this volume addresses the extent to which postcommunist societies have successfully institutionalized democratic politics and capitalist market economies over a decade after the collapse of the Soviet bloc. As the first volume to apply a systematic “comparative historical” approach to the subject matter, it reveals the precise social, cultural, and geographical constraints and opportunities facing postcommunist reformers.

The Banking System

In Jan Kalicki and Gene Lawson, eds., Russian-Eurasian Renaissance (Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Stanford University Press 2003): 335-370.

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Including essays by several leading contemporary specialists, this volume addresses the extent to which postcommunist societies have successfully institutionalized democratic politics and capitalist market economies over a decade after the collapse of the Soviet bloc. As the first volume to apply a systematic “comparative historical” approach to the subject matter, it reveals the precise social, cultural, and geographical constraints and opportunities facing postcommunist reformers.

In Pursuit of a Prosperous International System

In Peter Schraeder, ed., Exporting Democracy: Rhetoric vs. Reality (Lynne Rienner 2002): 31-51.

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The authors assess the efforts of major industrialized democracies, multilateral actors, and NGOs. They find that the success of these endeavors is constrained by several realities, ranging from the gap between the rhetoric and the reality of actual policies, to the dilemma that occurs when the goal of democracy clashes with other foreign policy interests.

Misguided Autonomy: Central Bank Independence and the Russian Transition

In Andreas Schedler, Larry Diamond, and Marc Plattner, eds., The Self-Restraining State: Power and Accountability in New Democracies (Lynne Rienner 1999): 293-311.

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New democracies all over the world are finding themselves haunted by the old demons of clientelism, corruption, arbitrariness, and the abuse of power—leading to a growing awareness that, in addition to elections, democracy requires checks and balances. Democratic governments must be accountable to the electorate; but they must also be subject to restraint and oversight by other public agencies. It is not enough that citizens control the state. The state must control itself.