Vladimir Kontorovich
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- October 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190868123
- eISBN:
- 9780190868154
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190868123.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Political History
The academic study of the Soviet economy in the US was created to help fight the Cold War, part of a broader mobilization of the social sciences for national security needs. The Soviet strategic ...
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The academic study of the Soviet economy in the US was created to help fight the Cold War, part of a broader mobilization of the social sciences for national security needs. The Soviet strategic challenge rested on the ability of its economy to produce large numbers of sophisticated weapons. The military sector was the dominant part of the economy, and the most successful one. However, a comprehensive survey of scholarship on the Soviet economy from 1948-1991 shows that it paid little attention to the military sector, compared to other less important parts of the economy. Soviet secrecy does not explain this pattern of neglect. Western scholars developed strained civilian interpretations for several aspects of the economy which the Soviets themselves acknowledged to have military significance. A close reading of the economic literature, combined with insights from other disciplines, suggest three complementary explanations for civilianization of the Soviet economy. Soviet studies was a peripheral field in economics, and its practitioners sought recognition by pursuing the agenda of the mainstream discipline, however ill-fitting their subject. The Soviet economy was supposed to be about socialism, and the military sector appeared to be unrelated to that. By stressing the militarization, one risked being viewed as a Cold War monger. The conflict identified in this book between the incentives of academia and the demands of policy makers (to say nothing of accurate analysis) has broad relevance for national security uses of social science.Less
The academic study of the Soviet economy in the US was created to help fight the Cold War, part of a broader mobilization of the social sciences for national security needs. The Soviet strategic challenge rested on the ability of its economy to produce large numbers of sophisticated weapons. The military sector was the dominant part of the economy, and the most successful one. However, a comprehensive survey of scholarship on the Soviet economy from 1948-1991 shows that it paid little attention to the military sector, compared to other less important parts of the economy. Soviet secrecy does not explain this pattern of neglect. Western scholars developed strained civilian interpretations for several aspects of the economy which the Soviets themselves acknowledged to have military significance. A close reading of the economic literature, combined with insights from other disciplines, suggest three complementary explanations for civilianization of the Soviet economy. Soviet studies was a peripheral field in economics, and its practitioners sought recognition by pursuing the agenda of the mainstream discipline, however ill-fitting their subject. The Soviet economy was supposed to be about socialism, and the military sector appeared to be unrelated to that. By stressing the militarization, one risked being viewed as a Cold War monger. The conflict identified in this book between the incentives of academia and the demands of policy makers (to say nothing of accurate analysis) has broad relevance for national security uses of social science.
Linh D. Vu
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781501756504
- eISBN:
- 9781501756511
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501756504.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter looks at the martyr hagiographies submitted in response to a 1939 decree. It explains that the decree urged provinces to collect stories of people “who cursed the bandits and died by the ...
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This chapter looks at the martyr hagiographies submitted in response to a 1939 decree. It explains that the decree urged provinces to collect stories of people “who cursed the bandits and died by the sharp edge of the sword” (ma kou bi yu feng ren zhe). By democratizing martyrdom, the 1939 decree sought to transform civilian bodies into weapons, which by no means physically injured Japanese soldiers but managed to offend the invaders' fighting spirit. The chapter then discusses the democratization of martyrdom in the Republican era, and it then reveals two major developments in twentieth-century China: the militarization of civilian life and the civilianization of war. The chapter examines how the Nationalist government's war-dead compensation and commendation regulations advanced the process of militarization. It further explicates the civilianization of war, which is defined as the increasing presence of civilians not only as victims but also as supporters of and participants in conflicts between states.Less
This chapter looks at the martyr hagiographies submitted in response to a 1939 decree. It explains that the decree urged provinces to collect stories of people “who cursed the bandits and died by the sharp edge of the sword” (ma kou bi yu feng ren zhe). By democratizing martyrdom, the 1939 decree sought to transform civilian bodies into weapons, which by no means physically injured Japanese soldiers but managed to offend the invaders' fighting spirit. The chapter then discusses the democratization of martyrdom in the Republican era, and it then reveals two major developments in twentieth-century China: the militarization of civilian life and the civilianization of war. The chapter examines how the Nationalist government's war-dead compensation and commendation regulations advanced the process of militarization. It further explicates the civilianization of war, which is defined as the increasing presence of civilians not only as victims but also as supporters of and participants in conflicts between states.
Vladimir Kontorovich
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- October 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190868123
- eISBN:
- 9780190868154
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190868123.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Political History
Simple omission is not the only anomaly in Sovietology’s treatment of military-economic matters. Another is civilianization, the peaceful reinterpretation of the features of the economy that the ...
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Simple omission is not the only anomaly in Sovietology’s treatment of military-economic matters. Another is civilianization, the peaceful reinterpretation of the features of the economy that the Soviets themselves revealed to be of military significance. This chapter focuses on the objectives of the planners, the most important actors in the Soviet economy. The objectives of planning, as described by Soviet sources, are the same as those of rulers elsewhere: building up military might and popular wellbeing, with growth as the means for achieving those. The standard Sovietological view holds growth for its own sake to be the supreme objective of the Soviet rulers. Yet such an objective is incompatible with the evidence of actual economic policies pursued throughout the plan era.Less
Simple omission is not the only anomaly in Sovietology’s treatment of military-economic matters. Another is civilianization, the peaceful reinterpretation of the features of the economy that the Soviets themselves revealed to be of military significance. This chapter focuses on the objectives of the planners, the most important actors in the Soviet economy. The objectives of planning, as described by Soviet sources, are the same as those of rulers elsewhere: building up military might and popular wellbeing, with growth as the means for achieving those. The standard Sovietological view holds growth for its own sake to be the supreme objective of the Soviet rulers. Yet such an objective is incompatible with the evidence of actual economic policies pursued throughout the plan era.
Vladimir Kontorovich
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- October 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190868123
- eISBN:
- 9780190868154
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190868123.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Political History
Forced industrialization, which was launched under the First Five-Year Plan, was a formative event that set the course of the Soviet economy. Stalin and other Soviet rulers have repeatedly stated, ...
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Forced industrialization, which was launched under the First Five-Year Plan, was a formative event that set the course of the Soviet economy. Stalin and other Soviet rulers have repeatedly stated, with uncharacteristic candor, that the objective of industrialization was the creation of defense capability, as well as building socialism. The main feature of industrialization, primacy of heavy industry, was said to serve the same twin goals. The standard Sovietological account civilianizes industrialization by downgrading or omitting the objectives proclaimed by Stalin, and substituting growth for its own sake as the sole motive. It derives the priority of heavy industry from the writings of Marx and the obscure Soviet economists. This account disregards or glosses over contradictory Soviet sources, violates the basics of the economic approach, and fails to draw connections to similar policies in other countries and periods.Less
Forced industrialization, which was launched under the First Five-Year Plan, was a formative event that set the course of the Soviet economy. Stalin and other Soviet rulers have repeatedly stated, with uncharacteristic candor, that the objective of industrialization was the creation of defense capability, as well as building socialism. The main feature of industrialization, primacy of heavy industry, was said to serve the same twin goals. The standard Sovietological account civilianizes industrialization by downgrading or omitting the objectives proclaimed by Stalin, and substituting growth for its own sake as the sole motive. It derives the priority of heavy industry from the writings of Marx and the obscure Soviet economists. This account disregards or glosses over contradictory Soviet sources, violates the basics of the economic approach, and fails to draw connections to similar policies in other countries and periods.
Vladimir Kontorovich
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- October 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190868123
- eISBN:
- 9780190868154
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190868123.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Political History
This chapter describes the influences that inclined scholars in the field to recast their subject in civilian terms. Sovietologists belonged to a small, low-prestige field of economics. They were ...
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This chapter describes the influences that inclined scholars in the field to recast their subject in civilian terms. Sovietologists belonged to a small, low-prestige field of economics. They were hired and promoted by their departmental colleagues working in the other fields of economics, and stood a higher chance of being treated favorably if their research could be seen as dealing with the issues of interest for the larger discipline, such as growth and economic development.Less
This chapter describes the influences that inclined scholars in the field to recast their subject in civilian terms. Sovietologists belonged to a small, low-prestige field of economics. They were hired and promoted by their departmental colleagues working in the other fields of economics, and stood a higher chance of being treated favorably if their research could be seen as dealing with the issues of interest for the larger discipline, such as growth and economic development.
Vladimir Kontorovich
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- October 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190868123
- eISBN:
- 9780190868154
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190868123.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Political History
Aversion of the discipline of economics to things military, which Sovietology, its peripheral field, emulated, is shown to be a part of a more general pattern in the social sciences. A survey of ...
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Aversion of the discipline of economics to things military, which Sovietology, its peripheral field, emulated, is shown to be a part of a more general pattern in the social sciences. A survey of articles about the German economy in 1934–1939 finds that the authors largely ignored another great peacetime military buildup of the twentieth century. It was seen as a peculiar and successful variant of employment policy, with potential lessons for other Depression-stricken economies. Archeologists and anthropologists bypassed the evidence of warfare in pre-literate societies, or gave it strained pacific interpretations. Academic historians marginalized their colleagues specializing in military history. Civilianizing tendencies in the study of other countries and in other disciplines support some of my arguments about Sovietology, and at the same time make its case all the more instructive.Less
Aversion of the discipline of economics to things military, which Sovietology, its peripheral field, emulated, is shown to be a part of a more general pattern in the social sciences. A survey of articles about the German economy in 1934–1939 finds that the authors largely ignored another great peacetime military buildup of the twentieth century. It was seen as a peculiar and successful variant of employment policy, with potential lessons for other Depression-stricken economies. Archeologists and anthropologists bypassed the evidence of warfare in pre-literate societies, or gave it strained pacific interpretations. Academic historians marginalized their colleagues specializing in military history. Civilianizing tendencies in the study of other countries and in other disciplines support some of my arguments about Sovietology, and at the same time make its case all the more instructive.