{"product_id":"stealing-the-state-9780674836808","title":"Stealing the State","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSolnick argues that the Soviet system fell victim not to stalemate at the top nor to revolution from below, but to opportunism from within. In case studies on the Communist Youth League, the system of job assignments for university graduates, and military conscription, he tells the story from a new perspective, testing Western theories of reform.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmid lamentations over 'reforms' stymied by Communist troglodytes, the repudiation of socialism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union seemed to come out of the blue. An institutional loss of confidence turned into a self-fulfilling spiral. 'Soviet institutions,' explains Steven L. Solnick, 'were victimized by the organizational equivalent of a colossal bank run.' Soviet officials sensed the impending doom, and they 'rushed to claim...assets before the bureaucratic doors shut for good.' Of course, 'unlike [in] a bank run, the defecting officials were not depositors claiming their rightful assets, but employees of the state appropriating state assets.' And they grabbed everything that was 'fungible.' (From the wreckage Solnick himself plucked a valuable book.) -- Stephen Kotkin * New Republic *\u003cbr\u003eA rigorous account of how the Soviet system fell apart. Using three different Soviet youth organizations as examples--the Komsomol, military conscription, and the job assignment program--Solnick illustrates how Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms rechanneled the self-seeking behavior of bureaucrats in directions that destroyed rather than revived soviet institutions. He bases his compact and accessible explanation on recent general institutional theory. Seen from this angle, structures collapsed not because ideology failed, politicians quarreled, or interested groups rose to challenge sterile authority. Instead, the system imploded because bureaucrats at all levels made off with state assets at the first opportunity, hollowing out the state or 'stealing' it...[The book's] underlying argument will fascinate most. * Foreign Affairs *\u003cbr\u003eSolnick addresses one of the most important questions about the breakdown of the Soviet Union: Why did seemingly stable Soviet institutions disintegrate so rapidly during Gorbachev's reforms? In constructing his answer, Solnick uses a neo-institutional conceptual framework, which focuses the analysis on authority structures of institutions and incentives for individual bureaucratic actors. This is an original, richly documented and engagingly written study that reconceptualizes our understanding of major elements of the Soviet collapse. -- Linda Cook, Brown University\u003cbr\u003eSolnick makes a strong case for taking seriously the role that the collapse of institutions internally played in the overall collapse of the Soviet Union. \u003ci\u003eStealing the State\u003c\/i\u003e is a major contribution to our understanding of one of the great events of the twentieth century. -- William Zimmerman, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction   Objectives of This Book   The Approach   The Basic Argument   Outline of the Book     1. Control and Collapse: Reformulating Traditional Approaches   A Framework for Analyzing Institutional and Policy Change   Power and Control in Soviet Institutions: \"Traditional\" Theories   Summary     2. Control and Collapse: Neoinstitutional Approaches   Neoinstitutional Approaches to Hierarchy   Explaining Institutional Change   Behavioral Theories: \"What's So Neo about Neoinstitutionalism?   Summary     3. Testing Theories of Institutional Change: The Soviet Youth Program   A Strategy for Hypothesis Testing   Comrades and Sons: Generational Conflict and Soviet Policy   Summary     4. The Communist Youth League   Background   Institutional Dynamics within the Komsomol   Crisis and Collapse of the All- Union Komsomol   Summary     5. Job Assignments for University Graduates   Background   Institutional Dynamics of Raspredelenie   The Collapse of the Job Assignments System   Summary     6. Universal Military Service   Background   Institutional Dynamics of Conscription Policy   Crisis and Breakdown of the Conscription System   Summary     7. The Breakdown of Hierarchy: Comparative Perspectives   Reviewing the Case Study Evidence   Additional Manifestations of Soviet Institutional Breakdown   Chinese Reforms: Successful Decentralization     8. Conclusions and Extensions: Control and Collapse in Hierarchies   Hierarchical Control and Collapse in Non-Communist Environments   After the Collapse: institutions in the Post-Communist States     Appendix: Data Sources   Notes   Glossary and Abbreviations   Index","brand":"Harvard University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49403612201303,"sku":"9780674836808","price":63.16,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780674836808.jpg?v=1730483985","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/stealing-the-state-9780674836808","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}