Russia Since 1980

Russia Since 1980 recounts the epochal political, economic, and social changes that destroyed the Soviet Union, ushering in a perplexing new order. Two decades after Mikhail Gorbachev initiated his regime-wrecking radical reforms, Russia has reemerged as a superpower. Russia will continue challenging the West until it breaks with its cultural legacy.

Steven Rosefielde is Professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Adjunct Professor of National Security Affairs, U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and Adjunct Professor of Defense and Strategic Studies, Center for Defense and Strategic Studies, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield. The author or editor of thirteen books on Russia and the Soviet Union, he has also published more than a hundred articles in journals such as the American Economic Review, European Economic Review, Economica, Soviet Studies, and Europe-Asia Studies. Professor Rosefielde is a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and was a Fellow of the Carnegie Corporation of New York from 2000 to 2003. He has served as a consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He has also advised several directors of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute, Moscow for more than a quarter-century, and the Center for Defense and Foreign Policy, Moscow for more than a decade.

'For all those who believe that Russia has turned a developmental or economic, not to mention political, corner, this is a necessary and hard-hitting corrective. It also is a sobering analysis of what Russian society has undergone for almost thirty years and is likely to experience in the future. After reading this bracing and valuable analysis, few, if any, analysts will be able to look at Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin in the same light as before. And for that we should be grateful.' Stephen Blank, Strategic Studies Institute US Army War College 'Avoiding that temptation of the naive to personalize foreign policy, Professors Rosefielde and Hedlund argue convincingly that Russia, now once again resurgent thanks to its energy windfall, is pursuing the same strategic path to which authoritarian Muscovy has hewed for more than half a millennium. More than just a reliable introduction to recent Russian history and political economy, Russia Since 1980 is a must-read for policy makers and others interested in understanding both the significant role that the Kremlin continues to play in the geopolitics of the twenty-first century as it pursues its perennial interests and the likely outcome of those restored imperial ambitions.' J. Peter Pham, James Madison University 'Russia Since 1980 is an important and even superb work in all respects: scholarship, analysis, carefulness, and lucidity. It is not only informative, it is also eloquent. If one wanted one book to explain contemporary Russia, its character, governance, and likely direction, I would recommend this book. Its conclusions are insightful and compelling.' William R. Van Cleave, Missouri State University