Russia–Tatarstan: Economic Reform Problems

Abstract

The creation of a viable paradigm for the development of Russia in the new geopolitical environment is a problem for which there is no existing model. Internally a viable model would reduce the probability of significant social tensions; externally Russia would shift from a confrontational to an accomodative stance vis-à-vis the international community. The policy of confrontation exhausted the country’s resources and led to its collapse in 1991. We would argue that the events of December, 1991 were not accidental or the result of human error, but were the natural outcome of the perniciousness of the previous system, which was based on the philosophy of opposition to the rest of the world.