Path Dependence And Its Influence On Socio-Economic Modernization In Russia

Abstract

The article examines the problem of "path dependence" on Russia's existing institutional structure and the possibility of socio-economic modernization. The urgency of the specified problem lies in the fact of political elite's (directly or indirectly interested in the existing distribution of national income from the sale of energy resources) unwillingness to abandon the rental economy make any significant social transformations unlikely. Existing close relationships of political and economic institutions in modern Russia has led to their mutual stagnation and made it impossible for bifurcation points to emerge due to the entire system's inertia. The study's aim is to solve the problem of political and economic institutions` stagnation, socio-political and socio-economic modernization by analyzing key elements of "path dependence" in Russia, as well as institutional mechanisms of bifurcation points` emergence as one of the institutional development factors. The paper analyzes the consequences of mobilization development as one of the types of modernization that have been used in Russian history for the current structure of economic and political institutions. The article examines key factors of rent-oriented behavior and autocratic authority as patterns of "path dependence" in Russia's institutional structure, which also negatively affect the possibility of modernization. Based on the analysis, several options for carrying out socio-economic modernization (displaying the most successful cases in foreign countries) in Russia are proposed.