Contested currency: Russia's rouble in domestic and international politics

Abstract

The 1990s were a difficult decade for the rouble, the Soviet currency that in 1991 became the common currency for all 15 post-Soviet states, and by 1995 had become Russia’s currency alone. Within Russia the rouble was systematically rejected by firms and citizens in favour of complicated barter arrangements, leaving many important sectors of the Russian economy essentially demonetized. Several of Russia’s provinces issued their own currencies, and many financial institutions and firms issued monetary surrogates, undermining the Russian state’s monopoly on the definition of money. The rouble fared little better outside Russia. It was subject to severe exchange-rate instability and repeated speculative attacks. Several post-Soviet governments rejected the ‘occupation rouble’ in early 1992 and introduced their own national currencies. The experience of the rouble during the first post-Soviet decade illuminates three of the most important issues in the politics of Russia and the former Soviet Union. First, money was a critical nexus between economic reform and state building within Russia. Second, Russia’s internal debates about the rouble zone mirrored broader debates about Russian national and state identities, particularly as they related to the rest of the post-Soviet Eurasia. Third, the decline and fall of the rouble zone reveals a great deal about how the other 14 successor states, and the societies living within them, viewed their relations with Russia and among themselves.