The third consecutive IISH research project in Russia was launched this weekend with its first workshop, which was held in Moscow 21-22 January. This project will be devoted to economic and social agency as a legacy of the Soviet period. When a market economy and a multi-party parliamentary democracy were introduced in Russia after the fall of the Soviet system, many observers commented that Russia lacked a developed civil society. They expected Russians citizens to be ill equipped for their new society.
The project will test whether this is true. It will focus on aspects of Soviet society, like the existence of forms of private entrepreneurship and self-provisioning, which did indeed prepare Russians for the re-introduction of capitalism. The existence of voluntary associations - and the attempts to found many more than were allowed - and private initiatives to help the handicapped and orphans and defend the freedom of religion are among other aspects that will be investigated. Yet other aspects, like bribing, were already prevalent in late Soviet society, but became prevalent in new spheres in capitalist Russia.
The project is financed by NWO, and is executed by the Institute in collaboration with Amsterdam University (professors Michael Wintle and André Gerrits). It is supervised in Moscow for the Institute by Gijs Kessler and professors Andrei Sokolov (Russian Academy of Sciences) and Leonid Borodkin (Moscow State University).