Power, Culture, and Economic Change in Russia

Russian and Post-Soviet Studies: Politics

“…In the twilight of the Brezhnev era, Soviet institutions, practices, and political culture had crystallized, even if there were growing economic and social problems that would eventually trigger reforms and the collapse of the system but that would also provide templates for post-Soviet politics and political economy (Hass, 2011). While these principles reflected elite struggles and historical contingencies (e.g., the Civil War and World War II), ideological principles were not unimportant.…”

“…By 2004 Putin seemed supreme: the Duma was essentially under his control, and the state was increasing its reach into the economy (especially after the creation of Rossiiskaia Tekhnologiia, a state-owned holding company that owned shares in various industrial and defense enterprises across the country, cf Hass, 2011). Rising oil prices meant increasing money for the state budget, so that Putin could buy political support by increasing pensions and spending money on public works, including repairing buildings, schools, parks, and the like that had been ignored in the cash-strapped 1990s.…”

Moral Economies: Possibilities for a New Framework of Economic Structure and Change

“…Yet, as economists pay closer attention to economic structures and networks, and as economic sociologists continue to make progress around economic culture (e. g. [Dobbin, 1994;Hass, 2011]), institutions and power [Roy, 1997] and fields [Fligstein, 2001;Fligstein, McAdam, 2012], what happened to the original positions in this important debate from decades ago? One side, positive political economy, has not fared so well in the long run: not fared well: either cognitive foundations are increasingly under question, and politics and power have crept back into institutional accounts [Acemoglu, Robinson, 2006;2010;2012].…”

“…One way to frame the contention and even chaos of post-socialist, post-Soviet reforms is through this dichotomy of market versus moral economies 15 . The dynamics of interests and cultural frames is complex enough to fill two books [Hass, 2011;2012], and 14 A similar logic is at work for German ordoliberalism: this economic rationality was grounded in a particular concept of normal state-economy relations and a normal and legitimate economy.…”

Post-socialist acceleration: Fantasy time in a multinational bank

“…Hass (2011: 47; 62) also notes the advent of capitalist work-discipline in one service sector firm that he studied. The work routine changed quickly due to measures enforced by an American manager.…”