{"product_id":"building-a-ruin-yakov-feygin-9780674240995","title":"Building a Ruin: The Cold War Politics of Soviet Economic Reform","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA masterful account of the global Cold War's decisive influence on Soviet economic reform, and the national decay that followed.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat brought down the Soviet Union? From some perspectives the answers seem obvious, even teleological--communism was simply destined to fail. When Yakov Feygin studied the question, he came to another conclusion: at least one crucial factor was a deep contradiction within the Soviet political economy brought about by the country's attempt to transition from Stalinist mass mobilization to a consumer society. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eBuilding a Ruin\u003c\/i\u003e explores what happened in the Soviet Union as institutions designed for warfighting capacity and maximum heavy industrial output were reimagined by a new breed of reformers focused on \"peaceful socioeconomic competition.\" From Khrushchev on, influential schools of Soviet planning measured Cold War success in the same terms as their Western rivals: productivity, growth, and the availability of abundant and varied consumer goods. The shift was both material and intellectual, with reformers taking a novel approach to economics. Instead of trumpeting their ideological bona fides and leveraging their connections with party leaders, the new economists stressed technical expertise. The result was a long and taxing struggle for the meaning of communism itself, as old-guard management cadres clashed with reformers over the future of central planning and the state's relationship to the global economic order. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFeygin argues that Soviet policymakers never resolved these tensions, leading to stagnation, instability, and eventually collapse. Yet the legacy of reform lingers, its factional dynamics haunting contemporary Russian politics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Yakov Feygin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674240995\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674240995\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/11\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Yakov Feygin","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":45265195237631,"sku":"9780674240995","price":39.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_f6d75640-3fee-4221-9c94-f643c3d5f59b.jpg?v=1713420425","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/building-a-ruin-yakov-feygin-9780674240995","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}