audiobook The Return: Russia's Journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev by Daniel Treisman in History

Review

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. What has 'Returned'?By Robert H. DodgeThe title; "The Return"; is tantalizing and ambiguous. If the decade of the 1990s was the nadir of the Russian Federation; especially economically; politically; and the level of corruptatility that existed at the highest levels of society; then the 21st century under Putin and Medvedev; relatively at least; has brought a halt to the downward spiral and given Russia some stability both internally and externally.The author attributes the downturn in the former Soviet Union's economy as the primary reason for the collapse in 1991 under Gorbachev. Nothing is mentioned concerning Gorbachev's decision to abandon the ideological precepts of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU); especially the leading role of the Party at the 19th Party Conference in 1988; which was a key to its demise. The downgrading of the ideology caused the wheels to come off and helped lead to the coup attempt against Gorbachev in August. 1991.Two positive contributions. The author is in agreement with most other scholars and observers that in the personal contest between Gorbachev and Yeltsin; Yeltsin was the better politician in a western-style political sense. And the author has used excellent opinion polls and social science data sources in making some sound judgments concerning Russian society and politics today.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Comprehensive; balanced contrarianBy Mariusz KuklinskiHaving covered the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavik as a reporter for the Polish Press Agency; I am rather a seasoned observer of things Soviet and Russian. I have read the book practically in one go and I am returning now to it every few days; to absorb the nuances. I would like to congratulate the author on the balanced and comprehensive scope of his approach; elaborate and detailed sourcing; including (which is rather a novelty) a systematic use of the public opinion polls; and his intellectual and political courage to be a contrarian. True; the latter is not easy these days. If someone; however; would like to understand; why Russia behaves as it does; they will find the explanation in this book; of the post-Gorbachev reasons for the siege mentality; which boil down to the broken promises made to Gorby in Malta.21 of 23 people found the following review helpful. An excellent; thoughtful analysis of Russia's recent developmentBy GrahamThe Return provides a well written; thoughtful; and balanced analysis of the key transitions Russia encountered from the Soviet collapse to 2010.One of Treisman's concerns is that analyses of Russia tend to delight in painting black and white pictures; or in enthusiastically identifying "the" cause for some complex change. Treisman emphasizes that life is rarely so simple and that (like the Western democracies) Russia is a medley of different views and its key changes were driven by multiple competing forces. The titular leaders often had very limited freedom of maneuver as they faced increasingly chaotic day-to-day realities; so the interplay of forces is as significant as any one driver.The book starts with four biographical chapters providing fairly high level overviews of Gorbachev; Yeltsin; Putin and Medvedev. These introductory chapters also provide a general historical outline of the period but they skate quickly over most of the tougher issues; as those are reserved for the later analytical chapters which are the main meat of the book. These cover the dissolution of the USSR; the transition of the economy; Chechnya; the tensions of internal politics; the souring of Russian-US relations; and finally a survey of the realities of Russia today.The chapter on the USSR dissolution is particularly interesting. Treisman discusses the famous Russia-Ukraine-Belarus summit in December 1991 which sounded the death knell of the USSR by launching the CIS; but he argues that Yeltsin and the other leaders were reacting to events more than driving them. The USSR had already effectively disintegrated and power had already passed to the squabbling Republics. Treisman also argues that "nationalism" is only a very partial explanation. This had not been a visible issue in most of the newly independent republics before 1990. Even in 1991; the clamor for independence was not simply along ethnic lines. In most Republics a large percentage of the Russian population also supported local independence.Many factors were at play; but one key unexpected factor was the timing of regional elections in 1990. These were among the first truly democratic elections and they naturally encouraged candidates to focus on regional issues and on regional discontents with the increasingly dysfunctional economic system. And they gave the newly elected Republic governments unexpected legitimacy as the voice of the people against the center. So as the center continued to weaken; the Republics became powerful foci.Economic policy was also less a matter of planning than of reaction. In 1991 the economy was already running wild. The state no longer had the coercive power to impose prices and managers were freely looting their enterprises. Given this; the government wasn't so much initiating pricing; market and ownership reform as it was trying to impose order on a process that was already underway. Treisman paints the post-1991 reforms as a series of complicated compromises in a very chaotic situation. He emphasizes that reform was not a short sharp shock. Subsidies for failing enterprises and farms ran on for years. The real GDP drop in usable goods seems to have been much lower than the raw numbers indicate and many consumers appear to have improved their lives considerably during this period.There is a useful chapter on Chechnya; surveying that tragic quagmire. Hard conclusions are difficult; but Treisman observes that unlike the many other semi-secessionist regions in the early 90s; Chechnya seems to have been unlucky in having a regional leader (Dudayev) who lacked the political savvy to accept advantageous compromise deals with Moscow.In the chapter "Falling Apart" Treisman analyzes why US-Russian relations soured. He notes that analysts in the US and Russia have very different views of what went wrong; so he provides separate sub-chapters giving both a progressive Moscow view and a progressive Washington view. From the Russian side; the US seemed patronizing; oblivious to Russia's concerns and also to suffer from a bad case of "the pot calling the kettle black". From the US side; Russia often seemed to be unduly sensitive and to be resisting the inevitable. Both views probably have some truth.The final chapter analyzes the reality of Russia today versus common stereotypes. Treisman crunches through various statistics to make the general case that; when compared with countries of similar GDP/head; Russia is not in any sense an abnormal state. Rather; for its general level of prosperity it tends to fall within the middle range on metrics such as corruption; crime; income inequality; press freedom; and even political transparency. That isn't to say that Russia shouldn't become better on all of these counts; but it does suggest that it should be perceived as a "normal" medium prosperity country; rather than as some alarming outlier. Finally; and rather intriguingly; he notes that independent surveys indicate that average Russians see themselves as having become both happier and more free over the last decade. Which if it is true would be very good news.Overall; this is an excellent; well written; and thoughtful analysis of Russia's recent transitions. It does a great job of explaining how there was often much more going on than first meets the eye. I've read a number of other accounts of the post-Soviet experience; and Treisman easily eclipses them.