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Product Identifiers

PublisherCambridge University Press

ISBN-101107627818

ISBN-139781107627819

eBay Product ID (ePID)160042957

Product Key Features

Number of Pages324 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameInvisible Hands, Russian Experience, and Social Science : Approaches to Understanding Systemic Failure

SubjectInternational / Economics, Economic History, Development / Economic Development, Economic Conditions, Economics / General

Publication Year2013

TypeTextbook

AuthorStefan Hedlund

Subject AreaBusiness & Economics

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.7 in

Item Weight17 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

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Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

Dewey Edition22

Reviews'Stefan Hedlund brings to this book a depth of knowledge and research into the former Soviet Union in the context of developments in world economics. He details the failure both of neo-classical economics and sociological institutionalism to promote growth and well-being, not only in Russia but in other developing countries and calls for an alternative approach.' David Lane, University of Cambridge, "In the wake of Russia's failed neo-liberal reforms and the West's financial crisis, Invisible Hands, Russian Experience, and Social Science offers a timely and searing critique of mainstream economic analysis. The work is at once a richly informed assessment of the barriers to market reform in Russia and a challenge to social scientists to rethink some of their basic assumptions about the sources of human behavior." - Eugene Huskey, Author of Presidential Power in Russia, Stetson University, Florida, 'Hedlund has brought the broad knowledge of a historian, the conceptual knowledge of an economist, and the open mind of a skeptic to a study of system failures in economies as different as Russia and Wall Street - and what social scientists can learn from awkward events.' Richard Rose, University of Aberdeen, "Even though Stefan Hedlund, a well-known expert on Soviet and Russian economy and society, uses the historical development of Russia and the Soviet Union as his case, this is not primarily a book about Russia. By showing how social sciences failed in understanding and explaining the reasons for such major 'systemic failures' as financial crisis and the degradation of the Soviet economy, Hedlund argues convincingly for an approach which pays due attention to history, culture, and ethics." - Jukka Gronow, Uppsala University, Sweden, "Stefan Hedlund's Invisible Hands, Russian Experience, and Social Science is a long-overdue effort to draw lessons from the failure of traditional social science to understand and formulate policy responses to the three truly cataclysmic events of the past quarter century - the collapse of communism, the confrontation between Islam and the West, and the global financial crisis. Hedlund's tightly argued and elegantly written book is a timely call to reconsider the value of real-life knowledge, history, and common sense in analysis and policymaking." - Clifford Gaddy, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, "Hedlund has brought the broad knowledge of a historian, the conceptual knowledge of an economist, and the open mind of a skeptic to a study of system failures in economies as different as Russia and Wall Street - and what social scientists can learn from awkward events." - Richard Rose, Director, Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, "Stimulating, perceptive, and exceptionally broad-ranging, Stefan Hedlund's book deserves a wide readership. It persuasively cuts across the artificial boundaries of contemporary social science." - Archie Brown, University of Oxford, UK, 'Stimulating, perceptive, and exceptionally broad-ranging, Stefan Hedlund's book deserves a wide readership. It persuasively cuts across the artificial boundaries of contemporary social science.' Archie Brown, University of Oxford, 'In the wake of Russia's failed neo-liberal reforms and the West's financial crisis, Invisible Hands, Russian Experience, and Social Science offers a timely and searing critique of mainstream economic analysis. The work is at once a richly informed assessment of the barriers to market reform in Russia and a challenge to social scientists to rethink some of their basic assumptions about the sources of human behavior.' Eugene Huskey, Stetson University, Florida, and author of Presidential Power in Russia, 'Even though Stefan Hedlund, a well-known expert on Soviet and Russian economy and society, uses the historical development of Russia and the Soviet Union as his case, this is not primarily a book about Russia. By showing how social sciences failed in understanding and explaining the reasons for such major 'systemic failures' as [the] financial crisis and the degradation of the Soviet economy, Hedlund argues convincingly for an approach which pays due attention to history, culture, and ethics.' Jukka Gronow, Uppsala University, Sweden, "Stefan Hedlund brings to this book a depth of knowledge and research into the former Soviet Union in the context of developments in world economics. He details the failure both of neo-classical economics and sociological institutionalism to promote growth and well-being, not only in Russia but in other developing countries and calls for an alternative approach." - David Lane, University of Cambridge, UK, 'This is an impressive book. It tackles some big issues in the methodology of the social sciences, and offers convincing grounds for reconsidering how we analyze both financial crises and systemic transformations.' Philip Hanson, The Royal Institute for International Affairs, London, 'This is a stimulating contribution to the discourse about systemic failures of recent years and an overdue and substantiated call to balance accounts between current history, economics, and sociology.' Heinrich Vogel, Former Director, Federal Institute for Soviet and East European Studies, Cologne, "This is an impressive book. It tackles some big issues in the methodology of the social sciences, and offers convincing grounds for reconsidering how we analyze both financial crises and systemic transformations." - Philip Hanson, The Royal Institute for International Affairs, London, 'Stefan Hedlund's Invisible Hands, Russian Experience, and Social Science is a long-overdue effort to draw lessons from the failure of traditional social science to understand and formulate policy responses to the three truly cataclysmic events of the past quarter century - the collapse of communism, the confrontation between Islam and the West, and the global financial crisis. Hedlund's tightly argued and elegantly written book is a timely call to reconsider the value of real-life knowledge, history, and common sense in analysis and policymaking.' Clifford Gaddy, The Brookings Institution, Washington DC

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal330

Table Of ContentPreface; Introduction; 1. Opportunity and self-interest; 2. Scope and tradition of social science; 3. Markets under central planning; 4. Russia's historical legacy; 5. Markets everywhere; 6. Institutional choice; 7. History matters; 8. Concluding discussion; 9. Implications for social science.

SynopsisThis book investigates cases in which national and international activities have gone massively wrong, entailing seriously negative consequences, and in which the sophisticated analytical models of social science have ceased to be helpful. Illustrations range from the global financial crisis to the failure to achieve speedy systemic change in the Former Soviet Union and the failure to achieve development in the Third World. The analysis uses as a backdrop long-term Russian history and short-term Russian encounters with unrestrained capitalism to develop a framework that is based in the so-called new institutionalism. Understanding the causes of systemic failure is shown to require an approach that spans across the increasingly specialized subdisciplines of modern social science. Demonstrating that increasing theoretical sophistication has been bought at the price of a loss of perspective and the need for sensitivity to the role of cultural and historical specificity, the book pleads the case for a new departure in seeking to model the motives for human action., This book investigates cases in which national and international activities have gone massively wrong, entailing seriously negative consequences, and in which the sophisticated analytical models of social science have ceased to be helpful. Illustrations range from the global financial crisis to the failure to achieve speedy systemic change in the former Soviet Union and the failure to achieve development in the Third World. The analysis uses as a backdrop long-term Russian history and short-term Russian encounters with unrestrained capitalism to develop a framework that is based in the so-called new institutionalism. Understanding the causes of systemic failure is shown to require an approach that spans across the increasingly specialized subdisciplines of modern social science. Demonstrating that increasing theoretical sophistication has been bought at the price of a loss of perspective and the need for sensitivity to the role of cultural and historical specificity, the book pleads the case for a new departure in seeking to model the motives for human action., This book approaches the causes of systemic failures ranging from promoting Third World development to implementing systemic change in the former Soviet Union and dealing with global financial crises.

LC Classification NumberHB171.H475 2013

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Invisible Hands, Russian Experience, and Social Science : Approaches to Understanding Systemic Failure by Stefan Hedlund (2013, Trade Paperback)

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