Political economy of Vladimir Putin: A view from China

Abstract

This article is written as a response to the book by Chinese economists Guan Xueling and Zhang Man, devoted to the analysis of Russian economy and politics. It is distinguished by a thorough understanding of the Russian problems. The peculiarity of the book is that the policy pursued in our country, and it is defined as the political economy of Vladimir Putin, is, in its main content, referred to a realistic trend in economic science. From this “ideology of realism” point of view, the main characteristics in the reform of modern Russian society’s reform have been considered. In the book they are presented as follows: a) the formation of an etatism policy with an emphasis on the centralization of the power resource; b) a bet on mixed forms of ownership and the use of selective protectionism with clearly defined goals; c) anti-Westernism and neoconservatism in ideology, reliance on patriotism and revival of national traditions. The authors paid much attention to the problem of using the raw material potential in the country’s economy, which is considered in the context of creating a Russian version of resource nationalism. They justly prove that, from the point of view of realistic political economy, abundant resources “is wealth given to the state by forces from above, they cannot be a curse”. The interpretation of the problem of Russia’s geopolitical choice through a comparison of the two alternatives: “neo-Eurasianism” and “Euro-Atlanticism” is also of interest. It is clear that the Chinese authors have their own powerful arguments in favor of the eastern strategy for Russia. Of course, the book could not reflect the whole range of problems of Russia’s development, it also has arguable issues, but this does not detract from its merits. It makes an appreciable contribution to the study of the problems of Russia by foreign authors.

Keywords:

political economy of realism, reform and economic policy of Russia, economic sovereignty, resources nationalism, Russia and the world economy, Eastern vector in the geopolitics of Russia