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Kudrin considers Russia unprepared to seek out ‘Russian path’

27 February 2017

Leading agencies cite Kudrin’s article in Roscongress Russian Investment Forum 2017 magazine

Russia needs institutional reforms now more than ever before, but an important part of these must be a change in social consciousness, as citizens are not demanding reform, Chairman of the Board of the Center for Strategic Research Alexey Kudrin has asserted, according to reporting from RIA Novosti.

“The old economic model isn’t working. Measures to build and launch a new model aren’t being taken. This is restricting our economic growth, resulting in a technology gap between Russia and other countries, low productivity, and poor quality government administration. The fundamental problems lie within Russia, and are both institutional and structural in nature...In my view, the country today needs institutional reforms more than ever before”, wrote Kudrin in the Russian Investment Forum 2017 magazine.

According to Kudrin, an important part of these changes is a shift in social consciousness, as a government is formed not only of institutions, but also of its people.

“Sudden and dramatic changes in society have taught our citizens not to plan anything in advance. According to regular surveys, approximately 46% of Russians don’t know what their situation will be in the coming months, and 36% plan their lives no more than a year or two ahead. The dominant life strategies involve only close planning horizons – let’s just get through this week, this month, this year, and then see. This results in a lack of social demand for future institutional reforms and, ultimately, the absence of such demand allows reforms to be delayed, reduced in extent, or not carried out at all”, he wrote.

According to Kudrin, the sociocultural characteristics of Russian society are simultaneously those of “fragmented collectivist countries”, divided into cohesive social groups which, however, are mistrustful of each other, and “feminine” states, orientated towards long-term strategies but striving to avoid uncertainty as far as possible.

“Putting it simply, such a combination of attitudes results in a need to always be aiming to achieve a major goal whilst also ensuring a constant failure to attain it. We are always in search of something big that will unite us and that we are prepared to strive for – a special ‘Russian path’, a national idea – yet we always turn out to be unprepared to find or to develop a vision of the future that is acceptable to everyone; and to build a road to it or to gradually embark on this road”, Kudrin asserted.

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