The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same: Institutional Transfers Seen Through the Lens of Reforms in Russia

摘要

Reforms in most post-Soviet countries did not lead, contrary to widely cherished expectations, to the emergence of democracy and a full-fledged market. On the contrary, the elements of democracy, however weak and imperfect they have been since the start of the 1990s, are progressively disappearing and leaving only the facade, if that, of formally free elections. The idea of "strengthening the vertical of power" (i.e., all important political decisions are to be made only at the highest levels of the state's hierarchy), to use an expression that is popular in contemporary Russia, contradicts the principles of diversification and delegation of powers. Instead of market capitalism based on competition and private initiative, political capitalism emerges. "Profit is made through the state, via contacts with the state or under physical protection of the state" (Swedberg 2003, 60). The case of Yukos illustrates this. Once the major Russian oil company, its owners were prosecuted for fraud and tax evasion as soon as they lost their privileged relationships with state officials.