Western Impact on the Transition to the Russian Market Economy
Step inside the whirlwind of post-Soviet Russia, where Yeltsin’s reforms, U.S. aid programs, a flood of Western consultants, and an emerging expat culture—from Peace Corps projects to Moscow’s first American diners—reshaped the nation’s leap into neoliberal modernity.
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Western Impact on the Transition to the Russian Market Economy
Step inside the whirlwind of post-Soviet Russia, where Yeltsin’s reforms, U.S. aid programs, a flood of Western consultants, and an emerging expat culture—from Peace Corps projects to Moscow’s first American diners—reshaped the nation’s leap into neoliberal modernity.
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 THE INTERVIEWS
About
About
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, American neoliberalism was at its height as the dominant universal system. The triumphal American side saw the former Soviet states as being in a kind of receivership to the West as expressed directly by Zbigniew Brezinski in 1990. On the contrary, the Russian reformers and the Yeltsin elite saw themselves as joining in Western neoliberal system but not as vassals. Nonetheless Yeltsin relied on American and Western expertise and entrepreneurs to acquire the knowledge and help shape the new institutions required to construct a Russian market economy. In this they consciously or unconsciously mimicked the historical process of modernization of Russia through acquiring foreign technology and experts that was first implemented by Peter the Great and to a lesser extent by Stalin. The perspective of the book as supported in these interviews is that reforms, including privatization, were the initiative of the group around Yeltsin. In order to implement these economic reforms and create a Russian private market economy, Yeltsin and his cohorts looked for and relied upon foreign expertise and technical advice with the goal of creating a modern, prosperous, powerful Russia.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union initiated an historic period of change in Russia. The US government responded with political and economic support for Boris Yeltsin that led to almost a decade of intense involvement of Americans in shaping the contours of the “New Russia.” The relatively small number of personal contacts from the civil diplomacy period were replaced by a virtual torrent of Americans and other foreigners entering Russia and directly engaging with Russians in historic numbers. These interviews tell the story of those times through the eyes of Americans involved with US government funded aid programs and private institutions that shared the objectives of supporting Russian market reforms and promoting new civil society organizations.

US and International government-funded programs utilized many of the citizen diplomacy organizations as channels for aid to Russia and created many new ones through bringing in a small army of consultants and advisors to Russia, contributing to the growing number of expats in Moscow and throughout other Russian cities. 

Topics in this section include US government programs including the Peace Corps; the State Department’s Business for Russia and Community Connections programs; BISNIS, US Commerce Department’s Business Information Services for the Newly Independent States (BISNIS); Consultants Ernst & Young, Deloitte; and the Kennan Institute. This section also includes topics related to the developing expat community in Moscow, including the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham), Moscow Country Club, American Medical Center & American Dental Centers, Moscow Polo Club, and expat established or inspired restaurants. Uncle Guilly’s Steak House, Starlight Diner, Patio Pizza, American Bar & Grill and others.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, American neoliberalism was at its height as the dominant universal system. The triumphal American side saw the former Soviet states as being in a kind of receivership to the West as expressed directly by Zbigniew Brezinski in 1990. On the contrary, the Russian reformers and the Yeltsin elite saw themselves as joining in Western neoliberal system but not as vassals. Nonetheless Yeltsin relied on American and Western expertise and entrepreneurs to acquire the knowledge and help shape the new institutions required to construct a Russian market economy. In this they consciously or unconsciously mimicked the historical process of modernization of Russia through acquiring foreign technology and experts that was first implemented by Peter the Great and to a lesser extent by Stalin. The perspective of the book as supported in these interviews is that reforms, including privatization, were the initiative of the group around Yeltsin. In order to implement these economic reforms and create a Russian private market economy, Yeltsin and his cohorts looked for and relied upon foreign expertise and technical advice with the goal of creating a modern, prosperous, powerful Russia.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union initiated an historic period of change in Russia. The US government responded with political and economic support for Boris Yeltsin that led to almost a decade of intense involvement of Americans in shaping the contours of the “New Russia.” The relatively small number of personal contacts from the civil diplomacy period were replaced by a virtual torrent of Americans and other foreigners entering Russia and directly engaging with Russians in historic numbers. These interviews tell the story of those times through the eyes of Americans involved with US government funded aid programs and private institutions that shared the objectives of supporting Russian market reforms and promoting new civil society organizations.

US and International government-funded programs utilized many of the citizen diplomacy organizations as channels for aid to Russia and created many new ones through bringing in a small army of consultants and advisors to Russia, contributing to the growing number of expats in Moscow and throughout other Russian cities. 

Topics in this section include US government programs including the Peace Corps; the State Department’s Business for Russia and Community Connections programs; BISNIS, US Commerce Department’s Business Information Services for the Newly Independent States (BISNIS); Consultants Ernst & Young, Deloitte; and the Kennan Institute. This section also includes topics related to the developing expat community in Moscow, including the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham), Moscow Country Club, American Medical Center & American Dental Centers, Moscow Polo Club, and expat established or inspired restaurants. Uncle Guilly’s Steak House, Starlight Diner, Patio Pizza, American Bar & Grill and others.
THE INTERVIEWS
THE INTERVIEWS