Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia
When Vladimir Putin first took power in 1999, he was a little-known figure ruling a country that was reeling from a decade and a half of crisis. In the years since, he has reestablished Russia as a great power. How did he do it? What principles have guided Putin’s economic policies? What patterns can be discerned? This book examines Russia's economic policy and the tools Russia’s elite have used to achieve its goals.
Explaining the economic policies that underwrote Putin’s two-decades-long rule, the book shows how, at every juncture, Putinomics has served Putin’s needs by guaranteeing economic stability and supporting his accumulation of power, even in the face of Western financial sanctions and low oil prices.
Putinomics has been reviewed in publications such as the Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest and the Times Literary Supplement.
Reviews
“In his comprehensive, balanced, and persuasive account of the rise of Putinomics, Chris Miller explains how Vladimir Putin has successfully crafted an economic system whose main accomplishment has been the preservation of state power and authority and its projection abroad. But he questions the future adequacy of this highly personalized system, where informal rules predominate over formal institutions, arguing that unless Russia commits itself to the modernization of the state and of the economy it will become a twenty-first century laggard. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand Putin's Russia today.”
- Angela Stent, (Georgetown University)
“In this lively, accessible, and well-sourced analysis, Miller puts forth a convincing and somewhat unorthodox argument: that contrary to conventional Western opinion, Russian economic policy under Putin has in large part been well designed and well executed.”
- Philip Hanson, (Associate fellow of Chatham House)
“Putinomics…with its lucid outline of Russian economic development since the 1990s, is a valuable guide.”
- Financial Times
“Putinomics provides a careful, comprehensive, and analytic assessment of the economic policies that have sustained Vladimir Putin in power in Russia over the last two decades. Professor Miller argues persuasively that some of Putin's fiscal and monetary policies have fostered economic stability and growth, while other politically-motivated policies have stifled investment and long-term development. Explaining these complicated dynamics between politics and economics in Putin's Russia is the great strength of this must-read book.”
— Michael McFaul, (Stanford University)
“Detailed empiric descriptions, clear and nuanced explanations of complicated processes as well as historical contextualization make the book accessible for a broad audience of scholars and non-scholars alike.”
- Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society
“An engrossing read…easily readable and digestible…it is rare to wish that a book were longer…Essential reading for anyone seeking not only an understanding, but an underlying logic to what can often seem like the black box of policy making in the Kremlin.”
- Slavic Review