Russian economic growth: Lessons from liberalization, medium-term constraints, and ecological challenges

Russia, the core of the former Soviet Union, has been in economic, social, and political crisis since the early 1980s. The liberalization experiment added to the chaos, and possible escape routes are blocked by financial, investment, and external constraints. Environmental stress, associated first of all with the nuclear heritage, poses an outstanding problem with global implications. Without active, efficient centralized intervention to achieve financial stabilization, the resumption of economic growth and prevention of ecological collapse cannot be reconciled.