The Post-Soviet Potemkin Village

Erscheinungsjahr 2016
ISBN: 978-0-521-87938-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 246 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 555 g

Why does the introduction of private property rights sometimes result in poverty, rather than development? Most analyses of institutional change emphasize the design of formal institutions, but this study of land privatization in the Russia-Ukraine borderlands shows how informal politics at the local level instead can drive outcomes. Local officials in both countries pursued strategies that produced a record of reform, even as they worked behind the scenes to maintain the status quo. The end result was a facade of private ownership: a Potemkin village for the post-Soviet era. Far from creating private property that would bring development to the post-Soviet rural heartland, privatization policy deprived former collective farm members of their few remaining rights and ushered in a new era of state control over land resources. This study draws upon the author's extensive primary research in the Black Earth region conducted over a period of nine years.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Allina-Pisano, Jessica

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: land reform in post-communist Europe; 1. Things fall apart; 2. Keeping the collectives; 3. The social origins of private farmers; 4. A return to regulation; 5. The politics of payment; 6. The facade; Conclusion: rural proletarians in the Potemkin village.

Über Autor(innen)

Allina-Pisano, Jessica
Jessica Allina-Pisano is an Associate Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, and an Associate of the Harvard University Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. She received her Ph.D. in political science from Yale University.