Sylabus
23.02.2024
Presentations, course introduction, basic terms. 01.03.2024
Command economy, its functioning. Planning and its deficiencies, Innovations, and Pricing system. Reforming of the economies. What were the systemic and what were changeable features of the regime? Why did all the efforts to change the system fail? 08.03.2024
Perestroika - reform plans. Was the fall of the Soviet Union inevitable? Was it caused only by economic affairs? What were the actual consequences and results? 15.03.2024 post-Soviet transformation - approaches, typologies. 22.03.2024
Gradualism 29.03.2024 no class (Good Friday) 05.04.2024 no class (conference participation) 12.04.2024
State capture, business capture in the post-Soviet Area 19.04.2024
Authoritarianism in the CIS, a non-liberal model of development 26.04.2024
Crises in the post-Soviet World. 1998. World financial crisis in the CIS. Did the fall in GDP reflect reality? Crisis in Russia, Economic integration in the CIS - reaction to globalization? 03.05.2024
Economic integration. 10.05.2024
Economic statecraft, sanctions, etc. 17.05.2024
War and economy
Anotace
Since the fall of the Bretton Woods institutions, economists believed that the "market first" approach may solve all the problems of struggling economies. It seemed that the whole world acknowledged the victory of the liberal approach. However, as time went on, it became obvious that the neoliberalist approach did not work well for all the countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Some of them adopted a different approach to addressing the economic problems. Furthermore, the World Financial Crisis in 2008, Russia's war against Ukraine and subsequent sanctions in 2014 and 2022, changed the whole post-Soviet economic environment.
The course is primarily aimed at non-economists. Its main purpose is to provide students with an understanding of the political economy of developments in the post-Soviet space and the debates surrounding the transformation process. Compared with purely economic science courses, the course covers a broader field of changing political-economic systems.
When did the transformation begin? What were the main differences between Central Europe and the post-Soviet space? Why did the transformation evolve to a semi-failed state in Ukraine, an authoritarian state in Russia, or full dictatorships in Central Asia? What was the role of initial conditions? Is there any "right" approach that is universal to all countries? Why can economic science not agree on one single approach?