Russia’s Perspectives in the 21st Century: Total ‘Escape’ or Modernization

Abstract

Grigory Yavlinsky — Chairman, Expert Council on Economic Reforms of the New Economic Association. Address: 32, Nakhimovskii Ave., Moscow, 117218, Russian Federation.

Andrei Kosmynin — Head of the Analytical Service of the Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO. Address: Bldg. 2, 31/2, Pyatnitskaya St., Moscow, 119017, Russian Federation.

Shaped as far back as in the 1990s, the negative developments in Russia’s economy, politics and social sphere have sustained until today or grown considerably in the past ten years. The most important social effect of the system of ‘Peripheral Capitalism’ is that it has triggered the launch of an ‘escape’ mechanism. This mechanism has led to overall social passivity, political apathy, emigration, ‘plunging into poverty’, antisocial behavior and criminalization. The authors stress that the historical gap between the society and the state and the ‘escape’ mechanism are the fundamental reasons of low social political activity and its ongoing decline.

Maintenance and further development of these trends have turned into a problem which threatens the very existence of the Russian state. Recognizing the need of political liberalization, the authors often note that the reduction of the authoritarian burden on the socio-political system will not automatically lead the country to a progressive way of development. The scattered and eclectic consciousness of Russian citizens is rather unstable, and if it does not shift towards a modern European organization of life, it will continue to degrade.

The ‘roadmap’ of Russian modernization offered in the article consists of high priority measures that have to be adopted to overcome the existing gap between the society and the state, and provides key guidelines for such systemic reforms.

Such values as the priority of human rights, including property rights, individual freedom and social justice are regarded as a ruling ‘compass’ which determines the overall vector of reforms.

The establishment of trust between the society and state requires a de-oligarchization of the government and better access for deputies from different social groups to the leverages of state power, in particular via the round table mechanism. Finally, it is proposed to convene a Constituent Assembly to adopt a new constitution.

Also, it is proposed to resolve the problem of legitimizing the large property on the basis of a compromise. On the one hand, this would guarantee the inviolability of the owners’ rights, and, on the other, would constitute the effective management of assets once acquired as a result of non-market mechanisms and procedures.

It is also proposed to allocate a significant part of state resources for the program of mass-scale housing and infrastructure construction (houses, roads, land). To own a house in Russia is a dream which has been nurtured by people for hundreds of years. The uniqueness of the present moment is that for the first time in its history, Russia has the necessary resources to do this.

These reforms can be generally outlined as follows:

public service reform;

in-depth reforms of the judicial system;

anticorruption reform and the adoption of laws targeting organized crime;

development of the mechanisms to protect the freedom of information and at the same time the toughening of the liability for violations;

reform of natural monopolies, the housing and utilities sector;

reform of the social security system, including the pension system, and the reform in labor relations.

In addition, it is necessary to create a system which encourages long-term investments and complex forms of modern economic activities. There should be considerable transformations in the economic sector to provide resources for the future economic and social development: education, research and the establishment of a national financial sector.

The authors also raises the issue of the elite being replaced by the bureaucratic nomenklatura under the system of ‘Peripheral Capitalism’, which, in fact, is one of the major obstacles to modernization.