Th e article seeks to answer, from the economic point of view, the question about sources of instability of Russia’s superpower status over the last 130 years. Th e analysis of economic strengths and weaknesses of Russia is based on a... more
Th e article seeks to answer, from the economic point of view, the question about sources of instability of Russia’s superpower status over the last 130 years. Th e analysis of economic strengths and weaknesses of Russia is based on a comparison of three periods: the Russian Empire in 1890–1913, the Soviet Union in 1980–1991, and the Russian Federation in 2000–2020. In spite of diff erent sources of the problems, in all the three periods the Russian economy shows astonishing similarities that led to severe economic and socio-political crises. The three most important common problems are: (1) insufficient domestic savings to simultaneously finance economic modernisation and imperial policy, (2) low competitiveness, (3) dependence on the export of raw materials. Although the causes of these weaknesses were diff erent in the analysed periods and rooted in dilemmas of internal policy, their occurrence always represented a major vulnerability for Russia that manifested itself fully during the trade wars and economic blockades. In the case of the Russian Federation, the vulnerability may be reinforced by both a confrontational policy towards the West and the technological and economic changes which could transform the functioning of global energy markets.
This article focuses on the interplay between the political authorities and economic actors in the Federal Republic of Germany in the process of establishing relations with the People’s Republic of China after 1949. Within this framework,... more
This article focuses on the interplay between the political authorities and economic actors in the Federal Republic of Germany in the process of establishing relations with the People’s Republic of China after 1949. Within this framework, the article will assess the role played by the Ost-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft (Eastern Committee of German Economy), a semi-official organization recognized by the West German government. Both the ability of German economic actors and China’s urgent need for economic contact with the West caused German-Chinese trade relations to circumvent the strict nonrecognition policy followed by the West German government. The article also argues that, while economic relations heralded official recognition of the People’s Republic of China by other Western European countries, in the case of the Federal Republic of Germany a division between the two spheres was finally accepted by the major actors involved, and ended only after the change of attitude imparted by the Nixon presidency in the United States during the early 1970s.
