The Russian Election of 1993: Public Opinion and the Transition Experience

Two British specialists on Russia report the results of a nationwide survey of 2,030 Russian adults, randomly chosen from each of 50 provinces of the Russian Federation. A survey instrument containing 300 questions was administered in face-to-face interviews during summer 1993, and explored attitudes toward the market, privatization, social order, minority rights, and nationalism. Testing three alternative explanations for the results of the December 1993 Russian elections, the authors present a nuanced argument that the Russian public has been drawing negative lessons about market democracy from the transition itself, as experienced since January 1992. A higher voter turnout, they find, would have augmented the strength of anti-government parties and candidates. Journal of Economic literature, Classification Numbers: H19, P29     

Privatization in Transition Countries

Two economists at the International Monetary Fund review a selection of empirical studies on privatization experiences in transition countries. The purpose is to examine the relative performance of privatized and state owned enterprises. In so doing the importance of privatization method is stressed, as is the importance of the background market environment. The role of de novo firms in enlarging the private sector in transition economies is also reviewed, along with the question of whether privatization efforts support or hinder de novo private-sector development.     

Managerial Strategies for Spontaneous Privatization

Two Western economists examine the rapid changes in property and business forms of enterprises in the former Soviet Union using evidence from intensive interviews conducted through December 1991 and involving 80 industrial and commercial organizations. After reviewing the reforms that provided the legal basis for the process, they describe different managerial strategies employed in spontaneous privatization and examine the ensuing changes in contractual relations of firms with other entities such as ministries or banks. The authors also interpret spontaneous privatization on the basis of literature covering property rights and identify several groups that lose or derive benefits from the transformation. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P20, L2.     

Spontaneous Privatization: A Comment

A prominent American economist and leading foreign advisor to Russian President Boris Yel'tsin comments on prospects for privatization by focusing on selected aspects discussed in a paper on managerial strategies for spontaneous privatization. Issues raised here include the need for more thorough understanding of the economic consequences of privatization, the precise characteristics of legal changes designed to bring it about, the role and relative importance of “insiders” and “outsiders” in the privatization process, and the potential of latent reserves of entrepreneurial talent in privatizing struggling enterprises. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P20, L2.     

Introductory Comment on the Consequences of Chernobyl'

Property rights in the new phase of economic reforms in the Soviet Union are reviewed and analyzed by a prominent British economist. The paper details laws and decrees on leasing, land, inventions, joint-stock companies, securities, hard currencies, markets, small business, a state holding company, foreign investment, banking, taxation, monopolies, as well as on property ownership and business units in general. The main federal measures are then compared with relevant provisions in the so-called Shatalin Plan. Included in the effort is a section on terminology pertaining to destatization as well as an assessment of the process of privatization as of early December 1990. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 124, 612.     

Privatization in Russia's Regions

An American specialist on Russian and post-Soviet politics examines regional variations in the privatization of both large and small industrial enterprises in Russia during 1992-1994. Using regional statistical data, both published and unpublished, interviews with actors and documentary materials from the Russian press, the author finds substantial differences among regions in the pace and strategy of privatization. He concludes that the weakness of the central government led it to make compromises that enabled local elites to retain effective control over enterprises in their regions. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: P31, L16, L20.     

Legal Development and Privatization in Russia: A Case Study

An American attorney and political scientist presents a study focused on managerial efforts to reorganize the corporate structure of a large aviation conglomerate with 14,000 employees. The conversion of properties from state to collective ownership and organizational shifts to a joint-stock company are detailed and analyzed. Managerial strategies to streamline the privatization are traced from corporate documents and procedures designed internally to devise orderly regulations not rooted in parliamentary legislation or presidential decrees. Broader implications are noted in light of possible trends to develop laws at the grassroots level and to establish precedents that may be assimilated. journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: K22, L21, P13, P31.     

The Interenterprise Arrears Crisis in Russia

Two American economists discuss in considerable detail the critical problem of interenterprise arrears (overdue payments for goods and services) in Russia that undermines the transition to a market economy and privatization. The study is based on interviews involving directors of 32 industrial enterprises, managers of commercial banks, and Central Bank officials in Moscow, Novosibirsk and Sochi from May to mid-November 1992. In addition to analyzing the causes of the mounting accumulation of debt and highlighting the financial problems of enterprises coping with the crisis, the authors examine the anatomy of present-day banking and extension of credit to finance production in the former USSR. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P21, Ol7, G20.     

The politics and economics of “retraditionalization” in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

This paper analyzes attitudes of women enrolled in secular and religious universities in the capital cities of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan toward family life and the role of Islam in the private and public sphere. Survey data indicate that women from both types of universities in both countries sympathize with retraditionalization, or “a return to traditional values, family life, and religion, which entails, in part, women being moved out of the work force.” Thus far, there is no statistical evidence of this phenomenon in the literature. Sympathy for retraditionalization is unfolding in the context of ongoing economic uncertainty that has plagued Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan since the Soviet Union's collapse, and its manifestations produce political responses. I argue that Kyrgyz and Tajik elites push a particular gender norm implying female secularization to counter expressions of retraditionalization among young women. In conclusion, I highlight counterintuitive findings of the survey regarding Islam's role in Central Asian society and discuss collective versus individual acts of resistance to female secularization policies in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.     

Changing Attitudes about the Weak: Social and Legal Conditions for Animal Protection in China

ABSTRACT

The foundation of current legal protection for animals in China is based on the principle of “rational utilization.” This utilitarian attitude supports the exploitation of animals through the legal means of resource management. However, through a process of public education and the construction of recent legislation, attitudes toward animals are rapidly changing in China. After the introduction of the concept of animal welfare in China in 1989, preliminary socioeconomic events such as early laboratory animal science, animal cruelty reports, pet ownership, engagement in international trade, and the severe acute respiratory syndrom (SARS) epidemic helped spur a trend away from a purely utilitarian attitude toward more positive associations with animals among members of the Chinese public. This phenomenon will be analyzed through the actions of non-governmental organizations, the media, academia, and international business to influence education and the development of legislation to promote animal protection practices. In addition, recent events will be used to illustrate political realities in China that impede the full promotion of animal welfare protection.     

Russian Centrism and Revolutionary Transitions

An American political scientist documents the evolution of the influence during 1992-93 of the Russian centrist organization, Civic Union, interpreting its dynamics with reference to a suggested theory of “peaceful revolutions.” The study is based on extensive and repeated interviews in Russia with leaders of the organization and directors of state enterprises, and on documentary evidence collected in Russia and elsewhere from mid-1992 through September 1993. Included is a review of the centrist orientation towards economic reform, involving rejection of shock therapy, privatization favoring enterprise directors and workers, wage and price controls, and restrictions on foreign investment. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: P21, H11, L33.     

Renationalization in Argentina, 2005–2013

Since 2002, government nationalizations and contractual breaches in general around the world have surged. South America has witnessed a wave of nationalizations of private enterprises, mostly foreign. Some analysts contend that this trend is shaped by the left‐wing ideological orientation of the governments, whereas others argue that a more robust explanation is the combination of economic pressure and constraint factors. This article contributes to the debate by using a nuanced institutional analytical framework based on the concept of company versus government opportunism, applied to the recent nationalization of previously privatized companies. It examines Argentina, a country that in the last two decades has seen radical policy reversals, from sweeping privatization of state‐owned enterprises in the 1990s to a renationalization effort with some of the same companies in the early 2000s.     

Suing the State in Russia

An expert on Russian law and politics uses statistical data as well as field-work in Moscow, Saratov, and Yekaterinburg to examine the uses of arbitrazh courts in Russia. Data on cases initiated by the state and by private enterprises are compared to determine whether there is a trend of increasing faith in the court system to fairly resolve disputes between private actors and the state.     

Public Opinion Toward the European Union in Georgia

Georgia's association with the EU has become closer in recent years through foreign policy instruments including the European Neighborhood Policy, the Eastern Partnership, and the Black Sea Synergy. Against the background of this increasing formal cooperation, public opinion toward the European Union in Georgia is examined on the basis of a nationally representative survey conducted in 2009. Regression modeling is used to relate attitudes toward the EU to explanatory factors including support for continued European integration, expectations of benefits from Europeanization, political beliefs, perceptions of national security and territorial integrity, and attitudes toward Russia.     

Attitudes Toward Reform Among Provincial Russian Politicians

An American political scientist presents the results of a survey of 1, 280 oblast' and city deputies in five provinces of central Russia. The survey conducted in 1992, assessed support for reforms aimed at development of a market economy and a more democratic political system. Five scales, two economic (including one to determine views on accumulation of wealth) and three political, were developed to measure deputies' attitudes. In addition, the respondents' age, education, occupation, gender and incumbency were used to determine whether attitudinal variation could be explained by demographic factors. The findings are related to the current struggle over control of local resources. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H70, P20, R59.     

Media effects on political confidence and trust in the People's Republic of China in the post-Tiananmen period

Based on a nationwide survey conducted in mainland China between September 1993 and June 1994, this study explores the impact of propaganda of the Communist government on people's attitudes toward specific political institutions and toward the government in general. Our study shows that the news media in China have negative effects on people's attitudes toward political institutions in general and make people distrust government. Several competing interpretations are offered to explain the negative correlation between media exposure and political trust. Despite serious efforts, we are unable to falsify the relationship between media exposure and people's attitudes toward government. These findings clearly demonstrate that the propaganda of the regime failed in nurturing supportive sentiment among people in Chinese society in the post-Tiananmen era.     

Markets,Democracy, and New Private Business in Russia

A political scientist examines the relationship between private property and elections, using a survey of 500 business elites in Russia. Specific attention is paid to how the type of property held by company managers influences their support for promarket parties and the holding of elections.     

菲律宾逆向应对中国入世和CAFTA的举措及其原因探析

本文介绍菲律宾政府与商界对中国入世和CAFTA的看法,以及菲律宾政府所采取的逆向应对举措,并从菲律宾的"逆工业化"过程的特点,制造业滞后发展与中小企业惧变,菲律宾政府与商界关系的变化与互动,菲律宾政治的特点以及21世纪初期菲政府的经济外交政策等角度,作了深层次的原因探析.     

The Second AIF and the End of Empires: Soldiers' Attitudes Toward a “Free Asia”

Largely neglected within studies of Australian attitudes — and changing Australian attitudes — toward Asia throughout the twentieth century are the diverse views expressed by the single major group of Australians to encounter the region, namely the servicemen and women of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) who served the nation during the Pacific War 1941–1945. Within forums offered by soldier publications such as Salt, Australian troops were engaged in discussions about why the war had been fought (often with reference to the merits and ideals outlined within the Atlantic Charter, Declaration by United Nations and United Nations Charter). Central to such discussions were attitudes toward race, colonialism and Australia's role and future role in regional and world affairs. Importantly, well‐informed understandings of Asian affairs were crucial to discussions.     

Forward to democracy or back to authoritarianism? The attitudinal bases of mass support for the Russian election protests of 2011–2012

Two UK-based political scientists present the results of an original survey they conducted in Russia soon after the presidential elections of 2012. The survey examines the interaction between mass attitudes toward the causal triggers of protest during the 2011–2012 electoral cycle and underlying political attitudes regarding the preferred alternatives to a hybrid regime (both more democratic and more authoritarian). They find that supporters of the protests were not stronger advocates of a democratic transition; on the contrary, they were more likely to support authoritarian leadership and ethno-nationalism. This finding leads to a discussion of whether one of the major constraints on elite-mass mobilization in Russia is the authoritarian direction such mobilization might entail.