The Siberian curse: how communist planners left Russia out in the cold

327 Pages·2003·3.27 MB·english

by  Fiona Hill

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The Siberian Curse
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S the
iberian
Curse
How Communist Planners
Left Russia Out in the Cold
Fiona Hill
Clifford G. Gaddy
brookings institution press
Washington,D.C.
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Copyright © 2003
the brookings institution
1775 Massachusetts Avenue,N.W.,Washington,D.C.20036
www.brookings.edu
All rights reserved
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Hill,Fiona.
The Siberian curse :how communist planners left Russia out in the
cold / Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 08157-3644-4 (cloth :alk.paper)
ISBN 08157-3645-2 (pbk.: alk.paper)
1.Siberia (Russia)—Economic conditions. 2.Russia (Federation)—
Economic conditions. 3.Economic geography. 4.Forced migration—
Russia (Federation)—Siberia—History—20th century. 5.Land
settlement—Russia (Federation)—Siberia—History—20th century.
6.Industrial location—Russia (Federation)—Siberia. I.Gaddy,Clifford
G.II.Title.
HC340.12.Z7S53343 2003
330.957—dc22 2003016801
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets minimum requirements ofthe
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence ofPaper for
Printed Library Materials:ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Typeset in Minion
Composition by Circle Graphics
Columbia,Maryland
Printed by R.R.Donnelley
Harrisonburg,Virginia
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Dedicated to the memory of
Frederick H.Hodder
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Contents
FOREWORD ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION xix
1
The Great Errors 1
2
Size Matters 7
3
The Cost ofthe Cold 26
4
Geography Is Not Destiny 57
5
Siberia—Plenty ofRoom for Error 72
6
Disconnected Russia 101
7
Taking Stock:How Much Has Changed? 118
8
Can Russia Shrink? 140
9
Russia ofthe Mind 169
10
Tearing Down Potemkin Russia 196
vii
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
viii
APPENDIXES
A
Celsius-Fahrenheit Conversions 215
B
Definition ofthe TPC Concept and Sources ofData 217
C
The Russian North 221
D
An Outline for Further Research 224
E
Cities in the Cold 227
NOTES 231
BIBLIOGRAPHY 271
INDEX 293
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Foreword
T
his book takes something everyone knows about Rus-
sia—it is very big and a lot of it is very cold—and
makes of that commonplace the basis of path-breaking
analysis that should be ofconsiderable utility to the people
who govern Russia today.
Rumination on Russian “reform”has become some-
thing of a cottage industry in the United States over the
last decade.Few books on the subject get much below the
surface to look at the hidden forces—the deep structural
dynamics—of what is under way in that vast,complex,
and immensely important country.This book by Fiona
Hill and Clifford Gaddy,senior fellows at Brookings,does
just that.It explains why Russia has had so much difficulty
breaking free ofits Soviet past.Bringing together pioneer-
ing research in politics and economics,The Siberian Curse
poses a provocative question:Can Russia actually achieve
the goals it has set for itself,given the persistence of eco-
nomic habits and structures it inherited from the U.S.S.R.?
Fiona and Cliff suggest that even the most comprehen-
sive and targeted reforms may be doomed unless there is
ix