Very interesting exploration of Russia in the 90s

I was a little skeptical of this book based on the title, which seems to condemn Russia's political system. But the work is very objective. According to the foreword, Furman was a Russian liberal who uncharacteristically looked for what his faction may have done wrong for the disasters of the 1990s, instead of trying to blame others. You learn a lot about Russia and the Russian political system. For example, that Western countries, 'democrats' and 'liberals' in Russia were complicit in Yeltsin's destruction of democracy because of their fear of communists, that the current Communist Party of Russia consists of third-rate forces from the Soviet era because most of the top echelons became wealthy capitalists. And that Putin, far from being an 'evil mastermind' who destroyed Rusisa's democracy, was just the logical culmination of the development of the 1990s. According to Furman, the same would have occurred under any of the other people Yeltsin was considering as his successor.

Some criticisms may include that the author seems to believe in some sort of Whig history, that societies inevitably develop towards "democracy". Also that there is no critical evaluation of the concept, or the question of whether Western countries advocating for it are actually ruled by the people. It may also be a little out of date, as it was written in 2009 (but it holds up well). But these are very minor flaws. The afterword by Tony Wood was also a little strange: it lacked the nuance and objectivity of Furman's work and even referred to the current war in Ukraine as the "criminal" invasion.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!