Stealing the State: Control and Collapse in Soviet Institutions (Russian Research Center Studies) - Softcover

Solnick, Steven L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674836812 ISBN 13: 9780674836815

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1999

Synopsis

What led to the breakdown of the Soviet Union? Steven Solnick argues, contrary to most current literature, that the Soviet system did not fall victim to stalemate at the top or to a revolution from below, but rather to opportunism from within. In three case studies--on the Communist Youth League, the system of job assignments for university graduates, and military conscription--Solnick makes use of rich archival sources and interviews to tell the story from a new perspective, and to employ and test Western theories of the firm in the Soviet environment. He finds that even before Gorbachev, mechanisms for controlling bureaucrats in Soviet organizations were weak, allowing these individuals great latitude in their actions. Once reforms began, they translated this latitude into open insubordination by seizing the very organizational assets they were supposed to be managing. Thus, the Soviet system, Solnick argues, suffered the organizational equivalent of a colossal bank run. When the servants of the state stopped obeying orders from above, the state's fate was sealed.

By incorporating economic theories of institutions into a political theory of Soviet breakdown and collapse, Stealing the State offers a powerful and dynamic account of the most important international political event of the later twentieth century.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Solnick addresses one of the most important questions about the breakdown of the Soviet Union: Why did seemingly stable Soviet institutions disintegrate so rapidly during Gorbachev's reforms? In constructing his answer, Solnick uses a neo-institutional conceptual framework, which focuses the analysis on authority structures of institutions and incentives for individual bureaucratic actors. This is an original, richly documented and engagingly written study that reconceptualizes our understanding of major elements of the Soviet collapse.-Linda Cook, Brown University

About the Author

Steven L. Solnick is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0674836812
• ISBN 13: 9780674836815
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 337