When Ideas Fail

In the history of Russian economic ideas, a peculiar mix of anthropocentrism and holism provided fertile breeding ground for patterns of thought that were in potential conflict with the market. _x005F_x000D_ This study offers an ideational explanation of Russia’s relative failure to establish a functioning market economy and thus sets up a new and original perspective for discussion. In post-Soviet Russia, a clash between imported foreground ideas and deep domestic background ideas has led to an ideational division in the country. _x005F_x000D_ This groundbreaking book makes an important contribution to Central Eastern and Eastern European area studies and to the current debate in the social sciences.