{"product_id":"building-a-ruin-the-cold-war-politics-of-soviet-economic-reform-9780674240995","title":"Building a Ruin: The Cold War Politics of Soviet Economic Reform","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA masterful account of the global Cold War's decisive influence on Soviet economic reform, and the national decay that followed.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat brought down the Soviet Union? From some perspectives the answers seem obvious, even teleological--communism was simply destined to fail. When Yakov Feygin studied the question, he came to another conclusion: at least one crucial factor was a deep contradiction within the Soviet political economy brought about by the country's attempt to transition from Stalinist mass mobilization to a consumer society. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eBuilding a Ruin\u003c\/i\u003e explores what happened in the Soviet Union as institutions designed for warfighting capacity and maximum heavy industrial output were reimagined by a new breed of reformers focused on \"peaceful socioeconomic competition.\" From Khrushchev on, influential schools of Soviet planning measured Cold War success in the same terms as their Western rivals: productivity, growth, and the availability of abundant and varied consumer goods. The shift was both material and intellectual, with reformers taking a novel approach to economics. Instead of trumpeting their ideological bona fides and leveraging their connections with party leaders, the new economists stressed technical expertise. The result was a long and taxing struggle for the meaning of communism itself, as old-guard management cadres clashed with reformers over the future of central planning and the state's relationship to the global economic order. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFeygin argues that Soviet policymakers never resolved these tensions, leading to stagnation, instability, and eventually collapse. Yet the legacy of reform lingers, its factional dynamics haunting contemporary Russian politics.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Harvard University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50727532790034,"sku":"9780674240995","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a272084e-9ab6-474b-b390-14cbb317efab.jpg?v=1734912048","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/building-a-ruin-the-cold-war-politics-of-soviet-economic-reform-9780674240995","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}