Economists’ politics of transition in Russia, 1990-1998

Abstract

The article deals with the Russian transition economists’ political views. The focus is on the relationship between the recommended economic programmes and the political conditions for their implementation. The economists considered are three advisers to the Russian government – Anders Åslund, Jeffrey Sachs, and Andrei Shleifer – as well as János Kornai, Marshall Goldman, Jérôme Sgard, Jacques Sapir, and the German ordoliberals writing in the yearbook Ordo. It is argued that, overall, economists regarded democratic government as a hindrance to the transition to capitalism