Post-Soviet Poer State-led Development and Russia's Marketization [Hardcover]

Examines the transformation of the Russian electricity system during post-Soviet marketization, arguing for a view of economic and political development as mutually constitutive.Post-Soviet Power traces the transformation of the Russian electricity system after the collapse of the Soviet planned economy. Unlike accounts that assess Russia's failure to create functioning markets, Susanne Wengle examines in detail the markets that have been created and suggests a critical revision of theories how Russian authorities and oligarchic empires shaped them.Post-Soviet Power traces the transformation of the Russian electricity system after the collapse of the Soviet planned economy. Unlike accounts that assess Russia's failure to create functioning markets, Susanne Wengle examines in detail the markets that have been created and suggests a critical revision of theories how Russian authorities and oligarchic empires shaped them.Post-Soviet Power tells the story of the Russian electricity system and examines the politics of its transformation from a ministry to a market. Susanne Wengle shifts our focus away from what has been at the center of post-Soviet political economy  corruption and the lack of structural reforms  to draw attention to political struggles to establish a state with the ability to govern the economy. She highlights the importance of hands-on economic planning by authorities  post-Soviet developmentalism  and details the market mechanisms that have been created. This book argues that these observations urge us to think of economies and political authority as mutually constitutive, in Russia and beyond. Whereas political science often thinks of market arrangements resulting from political institutions, Russia's marketization demonstrates that political status is also produced by the market arrangements that actors create. Taking this reflexivity seriously suggests a view of economies and markets as constructed and contingent entities.Introduction: Russia'sl³*