Russia in the 21st Century: The Prodigal Superpower

Description

This book demonstrates that Russia intends to re-emerge as a full fledged superpower before 2010 that would challenge America and China and potentially threaten a new arms race. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this goal is easily within the Kremlin's grasp, but the cost to the Russian people and global security would be immense. A sophisticated strategy is proposed to dissuade President Vladimir Putin from pursuing this destabilizing course. The book also explains why the Soviet Union imploded, why Western experts missed the signs of the collapse, and how Russia has metamorphosized into an authoritarian regime instead of pursuing a transition to fully democratic free enterprise. A critique of American foreign policymaking is also provided that emphasizes the confusion caused by tempering evidence to conform with public expectations and the failure to secure the national interest in favor of satisfying a consensus of particular special interests.

Steven Rosefielde is Professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Adjunct Professor of Defense and Strategic Studies, Center for Defense and Strategic Studies, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield. The author or editor of eleven books on Russian and Soviet studies, he has also published more than 100 articles in journals such as the American Economic Review, European Economic Review, Economica, Soviet Studies, and Europe-Asia Studies. Professor Rosefielde is a Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Science and was a Fellow of the Carnegie Corporation of New York from 2001 to 2003. He has served as a consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense as well as advised several Directors of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. National Intelligence Council. Professor Rosefielde has also worked continuously with the Swedish Defense Agency and the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute (Moscow) for more than a quarter century, and with the Center for Defense and Foreign Policy (Moscow) for more than a decade.

'... trenchant and timely'. Contemporary Reviews