Russia and Eurasia
October 1998

October Article Abstracts

Title: Russia's Summer of Discontent
Author: Michael McFaul
"For the first time in several years, politicians across the spectrum-liberals, communists, and nationalists alike-have begun to speak about the specter of Russian fascism should the current economic and political crises continue. Others, including even President Yeltsin, have warned of coup plots aimed at toppling Russia's fragile democracy. What went wrong, so quickly?"

Title: A Flawed Democracy
Author: Peter Rutland
"Towering above [Russia's] fractured political system is the enigmatic figure of Boris Yeltsin. . . His style of rule is that of a monarch, but his source of legitimacy is public elections. This kind of elective autocracy leads to the worst of both worlds: the instability of periodic elections and the inflexibility of autocratic rule."

Title: The Cashless Society
Author: Marshall I. Goldman
One of the more curious responses to the introduction of the market in Russia has been the growth of "barter, which has displaced the ruble in anywhere from 70 to 80 percent of the country's business transactions. . . Why is barter, which is avoided by Western businesspeople, so attractive to their Russian counterparts?"

Title: Russia's Crumbling Military
Author: Dale R. Herspring
"There has been a tendency in some circles to ignore the military's role in many polities, including Russia. But if the military represents the last barrier against collapse and chaos, then the state of the armed forces is critical. For Russia, the situation is not encouraging. The Russian military may not yet have collapsed, but it is not far from doing so."

Title: The Politics of Corruption
Author: John M. Kramer
"Postcommunist Russia's half-hearted and often chaotic efforts to create a market economy in which private entrepreneurship would figure prominently have exacerbated" opportunities for corruption. The crux of the problem? "The state simultaneously exhibits too much and too little regulation in the exercise of its powers."

Title: The Dismal State of Health Care in Russia
Author: David E. Powell
From the spread of cholera, tuberculosis, and aids to the heavy use of alcohol and tobacco, from the highest abortion rate in the world to a plummeting life expectancy, Russia is beset by health problems with which it is ill prepared to deal. David Powell surveys this bleak situation and concludes that a quick fix is unlikely: "the poverty of medical care in Russia is an expression of Russia's overall economic condition."

Title: Ukraine: The Muddle Way
Author: Dominique Arel
"Although most observers have argued that political instability in Ukraine will occur because of Russia, it may instead be generated internally as a result of domestic policy choices. Will Ukraine have to undergo a severe crisis to understand that more of the same cannot work?"

Title: Book Reviews
Whose Russian Revolution?

Title: The Month in Review
An international chronology of events in August, country by country, day by day.

Title: Perspectives
Follow the Yellow Brick Road