Excerpt This paper reviews the most important events in Russian history since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It focuses on general trends in Russian development as the country underwent a triple transition to democracy, market economy, and federal state. At first, Russia hoped to quickly become part of the world community and to join the ranks of the fully developed market economies. The failure of market reforms through at least 1998 to improve living standards among the vast majority of the population, the rapid increase in crime and corruption in the country, and the waning of Russian influence in world affairs all combined to create a climate of disillusionment with the post-communist transition.
In this atmosphere, many of the failures of the transition were blamed on Western policies that, it was argued, either did not take into account Russia’s unique historical and cultural characteristics or were deliberately designed to weaken Russia politically and economically. These attitudes first appeared among communists and other leftist groups. As the general Russian malaise lingered through the mid-1990s, these attitudes spread to ever larger segments of both the political elite and the electorate. As Russian politicians realized that they had to attend to these popular perceptions, and given their intense concentration on internal affairs—that is, the necessity of building a Russia that worked, which had never existed before—Russian cooperation with Western states and particularly with the U.S. stagnated.
Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1800 K Street, NW, Washington DC, 20006 | Tel: 202-887-0200 | Fax: 202-775-3199
