Political Economy of Independent Ukraine (Studies in Economic Transition)

✍ Scribed by Hans van Zon

• Publisher: Palgrave
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 249
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This study offers an analysis of the reasons for Ukraine's abysmal economic performance during the 1990s. The text's man thesis is that economic development was blocked by a set of parasitic mechanisms at all levels of the economy that prevented the growth of value-added economic activities. These parasitic mechanisms, already developed under Soviet rule ("beating the system" by redistributing goods and services while disregarding formal rules), became a widespread practice.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
List of Figures, Schemes and Tables......Page 11
Acknowledgements......Page 12
1 Introduction......Page 14
Pre-socialist legacies......Page 21
Soviet Ukraine: forced industrialization of a peasant society......Page 22
The hidden disintegration of Soviet socialism in Ukraine......Page 25
Independence as a result of implosion in Moscow......Page 30
Economic free fall and the slow pace of economic reform......Page 33
Conclusion......Page 34
The structure of government......Page 36
Diffusion of authority......Page 39
The state bureaucracy as an independent force......Page 43
The state bureaucracy and corruption......Page 47
From a developmental to a predatory state......Page 51
The character of elite networks......Page 57
Democracy, interest representation and political parties......Page 60
Conclusion......Page 61
1991–94: muddling through......Page 62
Price liberalization......Page 64
Monetary stabilization under President Kuchma?......Page 66
The creation of a financial infrastructure......Page 69
The state as redistributor......Page 71
Privatization......Page 72
The emergence of private small and medium-sized enterprises......Page 75
Demonopolizing the economy......Page 78
Tax reforms......Page 79
The shadow economy......Page 80
The role of international financial organizations......Page 81
Conclusion......Page 85
Deindustrialization......Page 87
Machine building and the military-industrial complex......Page 90
Heavy metallurgy......Page 91
The energy sector......Page 94
The agro-industrial complex......Page 100
The disintegration of public services......Page 109
Conclusion......Page 111
Restructuring at the enterprise level......Page 113
The case of Avtozaz......Page 119
Conclusion......Page 122
Trade war with the countries of the former Soviet Union......Page 123
Mismanaged opening up......Page 126
Commodity composition of exports and imports: continuous deterioration......Page 129
Import and import competition......Page 131
Disruption of supply chains......Page 133
Foreign direct investment......Page 136
Marginalization in the world economy......Page 146
Conclusion......Page 148
The choice for a centralist state......Page 149
The province of Donetsk: captured by the past......Page 152
The province of Zaporizhzhya: missed opportunities......Page 157
Conclusion......Page 160
An anti-modern society against 'modern' institutions......Page 162
The post (Soviet) socio-psychological syndrome......Page 164
Implications for economic development......Page 171
Social preconditions for a modern industrial society are missing......Page 173
The mechanisms of exclusion......Page 176
How to foster modernization of society and economy......Page 179
Conclusion......Page 180
Western perspectives and Ukrainian realities......Page 182
Not a market economy but a virtual economy......Page 185
Belief systems underpinning parasitic mechanisms......Page 186
Feudal property systems and Ukraine......Page 190
Coping mechanisms of the population and social exclusion......Page 192
Factors contributing to involution......Page 193
Is the Ukrainian model unique?......Page 194
Path dependency of Ukraine......Page 196
Alternative development paths......Page 200
Policy recommendations......Page 202
Notes......Page 206
Bibliography......Page 229
Chronology......Page 239
C......Page 242
E......Page 243
I......Page 244
M......Page 245
P......Page 246
S......Page 247
V......Page 248
Z......Page 249