Russia As A Network State

Discusses the ambiguous nature of the state in Russia, focusing on elite networks and their role in policy processes. This book examines the paradoxical dualism of state institutions and ruling networks, providing answers as to why some decisions are not implemented, and why the state exists despite the systemic inefficiency of its institutions.

How, despite thirty years of effort, Soviet attempts to build a national computer network were undone by socialists who seemed to behave like capitalists. Between 1959 and 1989, Soviet scientists and officials made numerous attempts to network their nation—to construct a nationwide computer network. None of these attempts succeeded, and the enterprise had been abandoned by the time the Soviet Union fell apart. Meanwhile, ARPANET, the American precursor to the Internet, went online in 1969. Why did the Soviet network, with top-level scientists and patriotic incentives, fail while the American network succeeded? In How Not to Network a Nation, Benjamin Peters reverses the usual cold war dualities and argues that the American ARPANET took shape thanks to well-managed state subsidies and collaborative research environments and the Soviet network projects stumbled because of unregulated competition among self-interested institutions, bureaucrats, and others. The capitalists behaved like socialists while the socialists behaved like capitalists. After examining the midcentury rise of cybernetics, the science of self-governing systems, and the emergence in the Soviet Union of economic cybernetics, Peters complicates this uneasy role reversal while chronicling the various Soviet attempts to build a “unified information network.” Drawing on previously unknown archival and historical materials, he focuses on the final, and most ambitious of these projects, the All-State Automated System of Management (OGAS), and its principal promoter, Viktor M. Glushkov. Peters describes the rise and fall of OGAS—its theoretical and practical reach, its vision of a national economy managed by network, the bureaucratic obstacles it encountered, and the institutional stalemate that killed it. Finally, he considers the implications of the Soviet experience for today's networked world.

Corporate raiding – the shocking phenomenon whereby criminals, business rivals and even state bureaucrats visit business headquarters and force owners or staff to transfer business assets, land or property – is an increasing problem in Russia. This book, based on extensive original research, provides a comprehensive overview of this activity. It describes the nature of corporate raiding, provides numerous case studies and discusses the role of the state and government officials. Overall the book argues that the prevailing climate of business and government in Russia leads to a situation where control is closely linked to corruption and coercion.

11 Political risks to international business in Bulgaria -- Part III Company case studies -- 12 Developing a logistics hub in Georgia: The case of Gebrüder Weiss -- 13 Take-off in Baku: Waagner-Biro and the new airport in Baku -- 14 Advanced Siemens medical equipment in modernization of Moldavian healthcare -- Conclusions -- Index.

The editor of this book has brought together contributions designed to capture the essence of post-communist politics in East-Central Europe and Eurasia. Rather than on the surface structures of nominal democracies, the nineteen essays focus on the informal, often intentionally hidden, disguised and illicit understandings and arrangements that penetrate formal institutions. These phenomena often escape even the best-trained outside observers, familiar with the concepts of established democracies. Contributors to this book share the view that understanding post-communist politics is best served by a framework that builds from the ground up, proceeding from a fundamental social context. The book aims at facilitating a lexical convergence; in the absence of a robust vocabulary for describing and discussing these often highly complex informal phenomena, the authors wish to advance a new terminology of post-communist regimes. Instead of a finite dictionary, a kind of conceptual cornucopia is offered. The resulting variety reflects a larger harmony of purpose that can significantly expand the understanding the “real politics” of post-communist regimes. Countries analyzed from a variety of aspects, comparatively or as single case studies, include Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine.

By combining perspectives from experts in domestic politics, regional politics, and specialists in international security, this edited volume focuses on the central role of energy production and supply in the Russian-Western completion across Eurasia.

Using archival sources, this book presents an explanation for the rise and subsequent collapse of the Soviet state.

This book investigates the emergence and working of governance networks in contemporary Russia. Drawing on a case study design, it provides a novel comparison of seven policy issues each investigated across various Russian regions or over time. Its authors reveal that governance networks are a ubiquitous phenomenon emerging in different regime types. It sheds light on how and why state authorities interact with non-state actors and unravels various types, functions and flavours of governance networks in Russia. By precisely tracing how state authorities govern networks under the terms of a hybrid regime, special emphasis is placed on the analysis of ‘meta-governance’ tools. Moreover, the book allows for theorising on governance in an increasingly authoritarian regime and thus can also be read as a unique contribution to research on governance theory in general. Creating a clear analytical framework it reflects the richness of governance theory and offers fresh perspectives on the nature of hybrid and ‘new’ authoritarian regimes. This original work will appeal to students and scholars of Russian Studies, public policy, political science, sociology, and public administration.