Introduction

Russia’s crisis-beleaguered economic course since the collapse of communism in 1991 betrays significant long-term vulnerabilities. The three articles that follow address some of the policy dilemmas emerging from successive crises that have set back the completion of key institutional reforms and led to a slowdown in economic growth. Recent studies have identified replacing a failed growth model as Russia’s key policy challenge: the government’s resource-based approach to growth has hindered the diversification of the Russian economy. Others have pointed to “resource rent management” as a major inhibiting factor to a more competitive economy, indeed, calling it the “key to the entire political economy.” The three articles in this thematic cluster explore the vulnerabilities of Russia’s economy from several perspectives: Why has Russia repeatedly been particularly susceptible to currency crisis? Have government responses been effective in mitigating that susceptibility? What are the political spillovers from financial crises? All three articles depict transition reforms as incomplete; they also concur that in addition to causing susceptibility to macroeconomic volatility, structural dependency on oil revenues impedes capital investment and regulatory and other reforms.