Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T05:49:00.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How Russia's Bureaucracy hindered its Economic Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2012

Chaim Shinar
Chaim Shinar
Affiliation:
Marzouk ve Azar St. 21c, Kiryat Ono, 55218, Israel. Email: shinarch@012.net.il
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

At least as far back as the reign of Tsar Nicholas I, Russia's state bureaucracy has been widely considered to be top-heavy, corrupt, inefficient and tyrannical. By the early twentieth century the real driving force of Russian history and society was neither the constitutional façade erected by the autocracy to stifle the revolution nor the subsequent Bolshevik seizure of power, but rather the growth of the state bureaucracy. Similarly, in the course of the twentieth century, analysts on both the left and the right came to view hyper-bureaucratic growth unchecked by democratic constraint as the major problem of Soviet society. Attempts to reduce bureaucratic interference in the economy of post-Soviet Russia have not resulted in positive change.

Type
Citizenship, Bureaucracy and Entrepreneurship
Information
European Review , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , 02 May 2012 , pp. 438 - 453
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

1.Lewin, M. (1977) Bureaucracy and the Stalinist state. In: I. Kershaw and M. Lewin (eds) Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorship in comparison (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 66.Google Scholar
2.Zemstvo was an organ of rural self-government in the Russian Empire and the Ukraine; established in 1864 to provide social and economic services, it became a significant liberal influence within imperial Russia. From ‘zemstvo,’ (2010) Encyclopedia Britannica 2007 Deluxe Edition.Google Scholar
3.McCaffray, S. P. (1988) The association of southern coal and steel producers and the problems of industrial progress in Tsarist Russia. Slavic Review, 47(3), pp. 464–482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Owen, T. C. (1992) The Corporation under Russian law, 1800–1917: A Study in Tsarist Economic Policy (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press), p. 202.Google Scholar
5.McKay, J. P. (1984) Baku oil and Trans-Caucasian pipelines, 1883–1891: A study in Tsarist economic policy. Slavic Review, 43, p. 623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Heinzen, J. W. (1997) ‘Alien’ personnel in the Soviet State: The People's Commissariat of Agriculture under proletarian dictatorship, 1918–1929. Slavic review, 56(1), p. 77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Benson, L. (1990) Partynominalism. bureaucratism, and economic reform in the Soviet power system. Theory and Society, 19(1), p. 94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. The Tenth Communist Party Congress in March 1921 introduced the measures of the New Economic Policy. These measures included the return of most agriculture, retail trade and small-scale light industry to private ownership and management, while the state retained control of heavy industry, transport, banking and foreign trade. In New Economic Policy (NEP) (2010) Encyclopedia Britannica 2007 Deluxe Edition.Google Scholar
9.Kuromiya, H. (1988) Stalin's Industrial Revolution: Politics and Workers, 1928–1931 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 36.Google Scholar
10.Kotkin, S. (1995) Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization (Berkeley: University of California Press). In: L. E. Holmes (2009) Grand Theater: Regional Governance in Stalin's Russia , 1931–1941 (Plymouth, UK: Lexington Books), p. 10.Google Scholar
11.Fitzpatrick, S. (1979) Stalin and the making of the new elite, 1928–1939. Slavic Review, 38(3), p. 381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Nomenklatura (formerly, in the USSR and Eastern Europe) is the term used for the list of individuals drawn up by the Communist Party, from which it selected candidates for vacant senior positions in the state, party and other important organizations. From http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nomenklatura; World English Dictionary. See also A. Aslund (1994) The case for radical reform. Journal of Democracy, 5(4), p. 63.Google Scholar
13.Gregory, P. and Harrison, M. (2005) Allocation under dictatorship: Research in Stalin's archives. Journal of Economic Literature, xliii, p. 751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Fakiolas, T. (1985) The USSR in the international division of labour up to the end of the 20th Century. Futures, 17(4), pp. 375–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Rosefielde, S. and Hedlund, S. (2009) Russia since 1980 (The World Since 1980) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 18.Google Scholar
16.Dawson, J. (1999) Egalitarian responses in post-communist Russia. International Studies Review, 1(3), p. 18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Tompson, W. (2002) Putin's challenge: The Politics of structural reform in Russia. Europe-Asia Studies, 54(6), p. 937.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bibliography and Further Reading

Barnett, V. (2004) Revolutionary Russian Economy, 1890–1940: Ideas, Debates and Alternatives (New York: Routledge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battle, J. M. (1988) Uskorenie. Glasnost’ and Perestroika: The pattern of reform under Gorbachev. Soviet Studies, 40(3), pp. 367–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bendix, R. (1959) Industrialization, ideologies, and social structure. American Sociological Review, 24(5), pp. 613–623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, L. (1990) Partynominalism, bureaucratism, and economic reform in the Soviet power system. Theory and Society, 19(1), pp. 87–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bialer, S. (1988) Gorbachev's program of change: sources, significance, prospects. Political Science Quarterly, 103(3), pp. 403–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charques, R. (1965) The Twilight of Imperial Russia (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Constas, H. (1958) Max Weber's two conceptions of bureaucracy. The American Journal of Sociology, 63(4), pp. 400–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, L. J. (1992) Brezhnev's ‘social contract’ and Gorbachev's reforms. Soviet Studies, 44(1), pp. 37–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derluguian, G. M. (2004) Alternative past, future alternatives? Slavic Review, 63(3), pp. 535–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fakiolas, T. (1985) The USSR in the international division of labour up to the end of the 20th century. Futures, 17(4), pp. 375–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzpatrick, S. (1979) Stalin and the making of the new elite, 1928–1939. Slavic Review, 38(3), pp. 377–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gatrell, P. (1994) Government, Industry and Rearmament in Russia, 1900–1914: The Last Argument of tsarism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glad, B. and Shiraev, E. (eds) (1999) The Russian transformation: Political, Sociological and Psychological Aspects (New York: Martin's Press).Google Scholar
Goldman, M. I. (1991) Diffusion of development: The Soviet Union. The American Economic Review, 81(2), ABI/INFORM Global, (May), pp. 276–281.Google Scholar
Graham, L. R. (1992) Big science in the last years of the big Soviet Union. Osiris, 2nd Series (7), pp. 49–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gregory, R. P. (2004) The Political Economy of Stalinism: Evidence from the Soviet Secret Archives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Gregory, P. and Harrison, M. (2005) Allocation under dictatorship: research in Stalin's archives. Journal of Economic Literature, xliii, pp. 721–761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedlund, S. (2001) Property without rights: dimensions of Russian privatization. Europe-Asia Studies, 53(2), pp. 213–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinzen, J. W. (1997) ‘Alien’ personnel in the Soviet State: The People's Commissariat of Agriculture under proletarian dictatorship, 1918–1929. Slavic Review, 56(1), pp. 73–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, L. E. (2009) Grand Theater: Regional Governance in Stalin's Russia, 1931–1941 (UK, Plymouth: Lexington Books).Google Scholar
Hendley, K., Murrell, P. and Ryterman, R. (2000) Law, relationships and private enforcement: transactional strategies of Russian enterprises. Europe-Asia Studies, 52(4), pp. 627–656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenez, P. (2006) A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End (New York: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kershaw, I. and Lewin, M. (eds) (1977) Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorship in Comparison (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Khanin, G. I. (2003) The 1950s – the triumph of the Soviet economy. Europe-Asia Studies, 55(8), pp. 1187–1212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kosals, L. (1994) Why Doesn't Russian Industry Work? (London: I.B. Taurus).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krementsov, N. (2006) Big revolution, little revolution: science and politics in Bolshevik Russia. Social Research, 73(4), pp. 1173–1204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuromiya, H. (1988) Stalin's Industrial Revolution: Politics and Workers, 1928–1931 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Lane, D. and Ross, C. (1994) Limitation of party control: the government bureaucracy in the USSR. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 27(1), pp. 19–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewin, M. (1991) Russia/USSR in historical motion: an essay in interpretation. The Russian Review, 50, pp. 249–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCaffray, S. P. (1988) The Association of Southern Coal and Steel Producers and the problems of industrial progress in tsarist Russia. Slavic Review, 47(3), pp. 464–482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKay, J. P. (1984) Baku oil and Trans-Caucasian pipelines, 1883–1891: A study in tsarist economic policy. Slavic Review, 43, pp. 604–623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orlovsky, D. T. (1976) Recent studies on the Russian bureaucracy. Russian Review, 35(4), pp. 448–467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, T. C. (1992) The Corporation under Russian Law, 1800–1917: A Study in Tsarist Economic Policy (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Pipes, R. (1996) A Concise History of the Russian Revolution (New York and Toronto: First Vintage Books Edition).Google Scholar
Rosefielde, S. and Hedlund, S. (2009) Russia since 1980 (The World Since 1980) (Cambridge New York: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Rowney, D. K. and Huskey, E. (eds) (2009) Russian Bureaucracy and the State: Officialdom from Alexander III to Vladimir Putin (London: Palgrave Macmillan).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shearer, D. R. (1996) Industry, State, and Society in Stalin's Russia, 1926–1934 (New York: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Smelser, N. J. and Baltes, P. B. (eds) (2001) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (UK, Oxford: Elsevier Science).Google Scholar
Suny, R. G. (1998) The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States (Oxford New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Suny, R. G. (ed.) (2003) The Structure of Soviet history: Essays and Documents (Oxford New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Tompson, W. J. (1993) Khrushchev and Gorbachev as reformers: a comparison. British Journal of Political Science, 23, pp. 77–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tompson, W. J. (2002) Putin's challenge: the politics of structural reform in Russia. Europe-Asia Studies, 54(6), pp. 933–957.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volti, R. (1982) Technology and polity: the dynamics and dilemmas of managed change. Studies in Comparative Communism, 15(1&2), pp. 71–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, J. (1987) Theory and research on industrialization. Annual Review of Sociology, 13, pp. 89–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar