Destination in Doubt: Russia since 1989 by Stephen Lovell (review)

Abstract

reviews 759 Lovell, Stephen. Destination inDoubt: Russia since ig8g. Global History of the Present. Zed Books, London and New York, 2006. vi + 186 pp. Notes. Guide to further reading. Index. ?12.99 (paperback). Destination in Doubt isan addition to the 'Global History of thePresent' series fromZed Books, which offers shortmonographs on events following the end of theCold War spanning from Iraq toChina. Lovell presents an interesting and extremely well-written account of events in the Russian Federation following the end of the Soviet Union. The author's self-confessed goal is that Russia 'still matters' (p. 3). The explicit objective, if we can separate the goals and objectives, is to analyse why democratic, economic and social transition has not turned out in theway thatmany wanted or expected. Lovell bases his analysis on the assumption that the problem lies not with the 'West' or some other agent, but with a structural account of Russia itself. Recently, we have seen a great deal of books explaining why democracy failed,why parties failed, why the economy failed and so on. Many of these explanations have been well-researched and well-written. Lovell does not try to compete with these other studies but rather lays out a complete account of the problems that have faced post-Soviet Russia within a small narrative that is easily accessible to readers who may not necessarily be familiar with Russia. Any account of Russian current events must always be grounded in an initial discussion of the legacies of the Soviet Union on its successor state. Lovell begins by asking 'what was Soviet socialism?' He argues that Soviet socialism consisted of three main values: a strong redistributive state with some notion of social justice, patriotism and modernization. As Lovell argues, Soviet socialism was not a form of governance but a way of life and thus, 'this was not a system that could be eliminated, or even fundamentally transformed,merely by abolishing theCommunist Party' (p. 15). Importantly, however, Lovell later argues that there is not something inherently wrong with the Russian psyche. For instance, Russians do not prefer to rely on improvised social networks as an ideal. He makes the point in the 'Surviving Post Socialism' chapter that 'impoverished Russians become and remain poor not because they lack bank accounts [. . .] but because they lack the very social capital and other non-monetary assets on which well-being and monetary robustness depend' (pp. 127-28). In other words, improvisation is not a natu ral state for Russians but rather a way to cope with an inefficient structure. The problem isbreaking the cycle. The author looks at the nature of state-building and political development inRussia. He asks the question of whether the Soviet collapse and the creation of theRussian Federation was 'death or rebirth?'While not explicitly stated, the inference is that rebirth characterizes theRussia of today. Lovell states thatEl'tsin faced two fundamental structural issues of state-building. The first is executive-legislative relations with the result of a strongpresident following the 1993 constitutional changes. The second is centre-periphery relations with ever increasing centralization following thewayward days ofTatarstan. With increasing executive control and centralization, Lovell compares Russia to a 'thirdworld' type along the lines ofJoelMigdal's Strong SocietiesandWeak States (Princeton, NJ, 1988), a theoretical framework that does not produce any 760 SEER, 86, 4, OCTOBER 2008 meaningful results in this narrative. Nevertheless, the chapter illustrates well the broad trends inRussia's multi-faceted transition by focusing on the process of state-building. Lovell then turnshis attention to the transitions of democratization and a freemarket. Like many before him, the author finds that a strong president, wayward regions, the Chechen conflict, and a lack of political parties which believed indemocracy as the 'only game in town' has left Russia with a failed democratic transition. Equally so, the failure of a freemarket was the result of half-witted privatization, poor bureaucratic input, a lack of professionalism and the lack of a stable political system. Troublingly, Lovell underplays the role of the international community (in particular the 'West') in helping Russia 'de-rail' from the destinations of democratization and marketization. Little discussion is given to the European Union and the USA's...