Vadim Volkov, Ph.D.

Project

Economic Governance and State Formation: Russia's Early Capitalism in a Comparative Perspective

The major objective of this interdisciplinary and comparative project is to investigate how countries make a transition from anarchic competition and a weak state to regulated markets, the rule of law and a regular state. It focuses on the situation in Russia between 1991 and 2004 ( comparing the developments there with the early capitalist economic history of the USA, between the 1870s and the 1930s. The outcome will be a book that puts contemporary Russia in the context of early capitalist transformations and analyzes its state formation scenario as emerging out of concrete episodes and state policies vis-à-vis competitors. The project focuses on institutions and markets as social-political formations, on the power struggles and the use of coercive capacity in shaping national economic models, and on the "process aspect" and comparable historical experience, thus blending economic sociology with political economy and history. A critical approach will allow me to make appropriate use of the selected sources for the purpose of the project even though the sources are obviously very different. The comparative approach with the USA will lead to an improved exploration of the conflicts and institutional solutions of large-scale early capitalist Russian economy in its process of rapid growth and transformation and to a better understanding of possible outcomes. The interdependence between economic development and state formation is a sensitive problem for many countries in Europe (e. g. Moldova, Albania) as well as in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Africa. The project makes the Russian experience relevant for European policy-makers, as it will yield generalizations potentially applicable to present-day problems of other countries in transition. The research project will be for the mutual benefit of Russia and the European Union and their respective research. Its use value consists in the ability to inform policies of development.

Recommended Reading
Volkov, Vadim. Violent Entrepreneurs: The Use of Force in the Making of Russian Capitalism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002.
-. "The Selective Use of State Capacity in Russia's Economy: Property Disputes and Enterprise Takeovers, 1998-2002." In Creating Social Trust: Problems of Post-Socialist Transition, edited by Janos Kornai, Bo Rothstein, and Susan Rose-Ackerman, 126(147. New York: Palgrave, 2004.
-. "Gewaltunternehmer im postkommunistischen Russland." Leviathan 2, 28 (2000): 173-191.

Colloquium, 13.06.2006

The State of Nature and the Nature of the State: Stationary Bandits and State Builders in Comparative Perspective

This lecture on the historical sociology of state formation and on the author's own research on protection rackets offers a critical perspective on the state. It assembles the vision of the state from major classical and critical traditions that assert the centrality of violence and coercion as well as of monopolized protection for any state.
Exposing the paradox of development - whereby states make growth possible and suppress it at the same time - the lecture focuses on the central question of theory and policy of development: how can the state, by definition the most powerful agency in the realm, be constrained so that property rights are secured from infringements by it, thus promoting growth? Or, alternatively, should the power of the state be extended to govern major investments and become what is known as a "developmental state"? Theories do not give satisfactory answers. History does not give indisputable solutions either, providing starkly divergent examples.
Russia's process of state building that is now unfolding in real time allows us to reconsider the classical questions of the nature and role of the state. The central question pertaining to Russia today is not the degree of freedom or democracy - these are externally imposed agendas - but whether the state is able to establish a system of credible commitment for the protection of basic property rights and what type of institutional arrangements can sustain such a commitment. Adequate comparative cases may help to answer this question. One such case deserving a closer look is South-East Asian developmental dictatorships.

Publications from the Fellows' Library

Volkov, Vadim (Moskva, 2015)

Rossijskie sudʹi : sociologičeskoe issledovanie professii

Volkov, Vadim (Moskva, 2015)

Obvinenie i opravdanie v postsovetskoĭ ugolovnoĭ i︠u︡stit︠s︡ii : sbornik stateĭ

Volkov, Vadim (Moskva, 2014)

Po tu storonu prava : zakonodateli, sudy i policija v Rossii ; sbornik statej ; [po materialam gazety "Vedomosti"] Extra Jus

Volkov, Vadim (New York [u.a.], 2004)

Creating social trust in post-socialist transition Political evolution and institutional change

Volkov, Vadim (2004)

The selective use of state capacity in Russia's economy : property disputes and enterprise takeovers, 1998 - 2002

Volkov, Vadim (Ithaca, 2002)

Violent entrepreneurs : the use of force in the making of Russian capitalism

Volkov, Vadim (Baden-Baden, 2000)

Gewaltunternehmer im postkommunistischen Russland