A Study On Economic Modernization Led By Putin's Administration

The economic modernization of developing countries is an important theoretical issue and also a major practical problem.Although developing countries have strong desires for modernization,only few can make the dream come true.How can developing countries take a correct road to achieve modernization? Scholars have been committing themselves to find an answer.After the transformation of the Russian market,Russia stopped modernization and then its government played a leading role in economic modernization.However,the process of government-oriented modernization is not that successful so far.Its economic modernization has made some achievements,but Russia is still troubled by a variety of problems: abnormal economic structure,low motivation for innovation,over-dependency on energy and unsustainable economic growth.This paper illustrates and draws enlightenment from the experience of recent Russian economic modernization.Modernization is a concept full of connotations.Economic modernization,one of its important dimensions,determines the process and direction of other dimensions like social modernization,political modernization and cultural modernization.To define and measure economic modernization are the premise of concrete analysis.Therefore,the methods and standards to measure economic modernization are fully discussed based on the analysis of the connotation of modernization and the classification of economic modernization.Chapter three in this paper makes a preliminary panoramic scanning of the development and evolution of Russian economy modernization.It discusses the stagnation of Russian economic modernization after the transition,and the birth of government-led economic modernization in complex social and political circumstances that time and the measurement of the level and the development of Russia economic modernization.Generally,Russian economy modernization developed unfavorably;there are still many problems.Analysis of the main performance and the internal reasons of these problems is the core of the thesis which is demonstrated in chapter four and chapter five.Then,the thesis analyzes the policy-making for Russia in the future from the practical conditions of the Russian economy modernization.Finally,the enlightenment and lessons drawn from the experience of Russian economic modernization are presented.Based on above logic,this paper explores Russian economic modernization dominated by the Putin administration.Chapter 1 introduces the background of the research,previous studies on economic modernization and Russia's economic modernization at home and abroad.the connotations of economic modernization are interpreted.What are elaborated are classic theories of economic modernization popular in 1950 s and 1960 s,the “new modernization theory” popular in 1970 s and 1980 s and the post-classical-theory of economic modernization after 1980 s.The structure of the paper,methods employed in the research,the theoretical analysis tools,the innovative aspects and shortages of this paper are also mentioned in this part.Chapter 2 mainly discusses theories on economic modernization.Firstly,the paper introduces classical economic modernization,the second economic modernization and the comprehensive economic modernization.Secondly,this part illustrates that the governments of different countries make a difference to economic modernization in different periods from the theoretical model and experience model of economic modernization.Thirdly,a classic economic modernization model,a second economic modernization model and a comprehensive economic modernization model are established based on three dimensions — economic growth,economic progress and economic transformation.Finally,this part proposes the conditions for effective operation of the government-led economic modernization from three perspectives — effective government-leading mechanism,well-developed civil society and favorable external environments.Chapter 3 introduces the evolutionary process of economic modernization in long Putin Era.Firstly,the history of Russian economic modernization is described: stagnation phase,initialization phase and implementation phase.Secondly,the goals of Russian economic modernization are explored which includes establishing an intensive mode of economic growth,establishing a diversified mode of economic development and optimizing the economic structure.Russian government plays a leading role in making policies on strategy for economic modernization,schemes of economic modernization and leading industries.Thirdly,after calculating the levels of Russian economic modernization,it is believed that Russia has not achieved the classic economic modernization,let alone the second economic modernization and the comprehensive economic modernization.This mainly results from the poor economic progress indicators.Finally,the reason why Russia chooses the government-led economic modernization is analyzed.The 2008 financial crisis and construction of a powerful country make it a necessity.Traditional culture,Putin and Medvedev's economic and political achievements,underdevelopment of the market economy make it feasible.Chapter 4 analyses the problems of government-leading economic modernization in long Putin Era.The problems are low economic efficiency,single mode of economic development and the imbalance of economic structure.Specifically,low economic efficiency shows in the decline of fixed assets investment and energy utilization rate.As to the mode of economic development,Russia is highly dependent on energy exports.Its uncompetitive trade and low innovative performance are obvious.Russian's economic structure is imbalanced which is demonstrated by its unbalanced industrial structure,its unreasonable income distribution structure,its imbalanced regional economic development and mismatch of the dominant party for allocating resources.Chapter 5 mainly analyzes the reasons why Russian government-oriented economic modernization is slowly progressed in terms of government-leading mechanism,civil society development and external environment.First,lowly efficient government-leading mechanism is lack of government's strength(including government rationality and government autonomy)and self-discipline.Insufficient government rationality is demonstrated by the political elite' differences in understanding the purpose,the means and the speed of economic modernization.On the other hand,Russia takes the defense industry as its leading industry,but the low gray correlation coefficient indicates that the defense industry has no relationship with economic growth.The defense industry cannot promote employment and technological progress as expected.The lack of government autonomy is mainly reflected by the fact that the government is captured by natural resources and national defense industry interest groups.They have an indirect influence on innovation departments in terms of industrial policy-making,trade policy,national strategy and R&D investment.The government's poor self-discipline is highlighted by a wide range of corruption.Second,the integration of Russian civil society and the economy modernization is in a low level.Civil society develops too slowly to provide intellectual support,to create employment and to stimulate economic growth.Third,the external environment is unfavorable for Russia.The Ukraine crisis,America's and Europe's sanctions against Russia and uncertain future of the Eurasian Economic Union make Russia's external environment worse.Chapter 6 constructs a security system for Russian economic modernization from terms of government-leading mechanism,competitive market environment,civil society development and external environment.First,the government should strengthen its ability of administration and coordinate the movements of various interest groups.Secondly,create a competitive market environment by promoting the flow of elements and encouraging the development of small and medium-sized enterprises,develop innovative economy and get rid of dependence on energy.Third,develop the civil society through the growth of the middle class and cultivation of the citizen culture.Finally,Russia needs to get along well with the United States,European countries,the Eurasian Economic Union and China on the basis of the interests.Chapter 7 proposes some enlightenment about Russia's government-leading economic modernization for China's New Normal.Under the circumstances of the “new normal” of China's economy,it's important to balance the relationship between government and market,construct the power list and responsibility list and advance administrative capacity.It's also important to make friends with other countries for China's economic development.