Russian Reform and Economics The Last Quarter of Essay Example For Students

Russian Reform and Economics: The Last Quarter of Essay the 20th CenturyOutlineThesis: As the reformation of the USSR was becoming a reality, Russias economy wascrumbling beneath it. Russia began its economic challenge of perestroika in the 1980s. The Russian people wanted economic security and freedom, while the government wastrying to obtain democracy. The previous management styles needed to be changed alongwith the way that most businesses in Russia operated. I. Reformation of USSRA. The change from communism to democracy. B. The change in government has had a great effect on the Russian people and workers. C. The reformation left the Russian economy upside down. II. Post-Reform economy versus Pre-Reform economy. A. There were many steps in the reformation of the economy. B. What are some of the effects of a reforming economy?C. There are many changes that are still needed in order for the Russian economy to grow. III. What will be the future of Russias Economy?Main BodyAs the reformation of the USSR was becoming a reality, Russias economy wascrumbling beneath it. Russia began its economic challenge of perestroika in the 1980s. The Russian people wanted economic security and freedom, while the government wastrying to obtain democracy. The previous management styles needed to be changed alongwith the way that most businesses in Russia operated. The Russian Federation consists of 17,075,400 square km, which is roughly 76.2percent of the former USSR, and covers about 12 percent of the earths land surface. TheRussian Federations population in 1991 was 147.3 million (Smith, A., 7). During the 1980s the Russian government started a reformation process calledperestroika, meaning restructuring (Aganbegyan, 1). Perestroika signifies qualitativechanges and transformation in the government and in the economy. The four stages ofperestroika are the Preliminary stage (March 1985-February 1986), the Stabilizing stage(March 1986 January 1987), the Expansive stage (January November 1987), and theRegrouping stage (November 1987 onwards) (Hill Dellenbrant, 140). The governmentalso identified two other processes. Glasnost, which means openness, supported thestrong economic reform (Aganbegyan, 1; Hill Dellenbrant, 54). The acceleration ofeconomic reform was called uskorenie (Aganbegyan, 1). Many changes took place during the years contained in each of the stages ofperestroika. This changes ranged from government policies and structure to industrialproduction procedures to economic policies. The major change came in 1991 with thebreakup of USSR. This freed the individual states and allowed them to becomeindependent countries. All of these new countries went through radical governmentchanges. Many of them, including Russia, chose to implement democracy. This changefrom a central military based structure into democracy effected all of the former sovietstates centralized economic departments. The assets were owned by the people and were distributed by the state during thecommunist reign in Russia. All of the resources were also distributed by the state for thebetterment of the people. The government ran all state budgeted enterprises. All of theprivate enterprises, that marketed consumer goods, were taxed by the government andwere also closely regulated. Before the democratic government, Russian workers received the same pay whetherthey worked hard or not, causing wages to be low and work conditions to be very poor. Russian workers would steal from the government in order to supplement their low wages. The Russian theory was that people were motivated by their collective interests. Thisproved to be very wrong. The actual growth for national income in 1987 was 1.6 percentless than what the government had predicted (Hill ; Dellenbrant, 106). With all of the changes going on in each of the stages of perestroika there was a lotof political, bureaucratic, managerial, and intellectual opposition to what the leaders wereestablishing. This goes to show that people will always resist change. Perestroika identified many problems with the existing government, economics, andliving conditions of the people. The lack of overall government regulations likeunemployment insurance, a decent taxation system, and a centralized market caused manyof the conditions. Another problem was the lack of legal infrastructure and protectedproperty rights. History of Swimming EssayMany private enterprises were allowed to produce consumer goods and consumerservices. The private enterprises were only allowed to hire workers if they were in thefamily. Most of the workers were required to use it as a second job to their existing statedirected job. The goods produced by these private enterprises were mostly hand madeitems. Most services included repair type services like home repair, car repair, appliancerepair, etc. The new private enterprises are looking to be very successful. Private farmshave become more productive than the state run collective farms. President Gorbachevaddressed the private enterprise managers Be your own bosses, run your own businesses,do your own investments, keep your profits, and make your plants efficient (Smith, H.,241). This gave independence and accountability to the industrial producers and otherprivate enterprises. Gorbachev also stated that the use of uskorenie on science andtechnology would help to boost the economy (Smith, H., 178). Many of the positive outcomes of the economic reformation have helped to justify theprocess to the people and the administrators. Gorbachev promised that unemploymentwould not be an outcome of the new economic reform, while consumers are now able tochoose imported or domestic goods in the newly created open economy. The Russiantelevision programs now covered more and are becoming more exciting. They are coveringinternational news, doing investigative type reports, and are even having phone-in programson controversial topics. All of the new implementations are bringing in new technology andmoney. Some of the problems to the economic reformation have been the side effects andopposition to the reform. Most of the opposition has come from the political, bureaucratic,managerial, and intellectual sides of the government and industrial producers. There hasbeen strong resistance to farm reform from several government leaders. One side effectof the reformation has been an unstable rouble, which has fluctuated from 70 roubles to$1.00 all the way to 230 roubles to $1.00 causing much chaos (Colton Legvold, 57). There has been a large number of negative trends in trade and production (Colton Legvold, 61). High inflation rates have resulted from fighting over control of the supply ofcredit and money amongst the former soviet states. Prices of consumer based products andservices have tripled and then doubled within a very short period of time (Colton Legvold,55). All of these problems has pushed the actual implementation dates the 1990s. What will it take for Russia to end the slumping economy while trying to achieve afree market and democracy? Some economists have predicted that in order for Russia tostabilize its economy and achieve capital equality of European countries that an estimated$1.7 trillion dollars or $1.2 trillion invested at 7 percent or $571 billion per year was needed(Smith, A., 218). Works CitedAganbegyan, Abel. The Economic Challenge of Perestroika. Bloomington, IN: IndianaUP, 1988. Pg 1,6,17-18Colton, Timothy J. and Robert Legvold. After the Soviet Union: From Empire to Nations. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992. Pg 51,54-57,59-62,64-65,70,74,78Hill, Ronald J. and Jan Ake Dellenbrant. Gorbachev and Perestroika: Towards a New Socialism. England: Edward Elgar, 1989. Pg 51,54-55,93-101,104-107,115,140-142,144Lawrence, Paul R. and Charalambos A. Vlachoutsicos. Behind the Factory Walls: Decision Making In Soviet and US Enterprises. Boston: Harvard Business SP,1990. Pg 3-4,11,39,43,45-47Smith, Alan. Russia and the World Economy: Problems of Integration. London:Routledge, 1993. Pg 1,7,177-178,187-188,191,199-200,204-206,218,221 Smith, Hedrick. The New Russians. New York: Random House, 1990. Pg 178,187,209,220,236-242