The Russian Crisis and Global Geopolitics: Dilemmas of Authoritarian Rule, SOAS University of London
Channel: SOAS University of London
Date: 06/06/2017

This Development studies Seminar titled “The Russian Crisis and Global Geopolitics: Dilemmas of Authoritarian Rule” was given by Professor Anastasia Nesvetailova at SOAS University of London on 22 November 2016

You can find out more about this event at https://goo.gl/N2XvVX
Find out more about Development Studies at SOAS at https://www.soas.ac.uk/development/

Since 2000, Russia’s model of political economy has evolved around three main channels of global economic integration: 1) export of natural resources and a national system of redistribution of export revenues; 2) financialisation, which acts as a boost for domestic consumption/demand; and 3)offshore integration of Russian capital into global capital markets. The crisis of 2014 has affected all three channels of Russia’s integration into the global political economy. Reduced export revenues, the deepening financial crisis and international financial isolation all pose challenges to established power structures in Russia. Many argue that the economic crisis also threatens authoritarian rule in the country. This paper analyses the transmission mechanisms of the crisis in Russia, focusing on key dilemmas faced by Russian authorities and presenting some scenarios regarding how the current situation may develop.

Anastasia Nesvetailova is Professor in International Political Economy at City University London and Director of City Political Economy Research Centre (CITYPERC). Her main research interests lie in the political economy of finance, financial innovation and governance. Theoretically, she works at a nexus of post-Keynesian economic thought and the institutional economics of J.R. Commons and Hyman Minsky. In 2015, Anastasia was appointed a member of the Economic Advisory Panel to the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnel, MP. Her most recent book Financial Alchemy in Crisis: The Great Liquidity Illusion (Pluto Press, 2010) focuses on the role of liquidity in finance, showing that the seeming liquidity that led to an abundance of mortgages in the US and UK housing market never actually existed. She explains why the credit crisis was an inevitable consequence of the created credit pyramid.