Published November 26th, 2006 by Future Atlas
Russia: “widening control over industry”
Russia is bringing more key companies under state influence, the WP reports.
The Russian government portrays this trend as furthering the “creation of powerful companies that can compete in the global economy.”
If this is accurate, it would point further toward an East Asian scenario for Russia, in which the government guides a predominantly capitalist system.
But some have their doubts. Says one opposition politician, “We should differentiate between state capitalism and bureaucratic capitalism; here we have bureaucratic capitalism, groups of state bureaucrats taking control of companies.”
Another notes that the Russian state is employing companies as political tools domestically and abroad, “so economic logic becomes a victim of political interests.”
This could undermine an Asian model for Russia. Guided capitalism has worked, but it depends on the competence and public-spiritedness of those governing. If public purposes and prosperity are subordinated to other goals, then Russia ends up with the standard Third World model, and poor prospects for wealth.