| Abstract: | Abstract
While criminalisation of the Russian economy can partly be explained by privatisation in conditions of underdevelopment of free market institutions, the emphasis on privatisation as the prime cause of crime may lead to gross oversimplification. The present article claims that faster and more radical, rather than slower and partial, privatisation could create less room for criminal behaviour in Russia. Half-measures applied to privatise the Russian economy have contributed to prolonged uncertainty and to a blurred demarcation between the private and government sectors as well as between management and ownership in business enterprises. Prolonged coexistence of the two sectors creates too much opportunity for criminal behaviour. Moreover, an explanation of the growth in crime in Russia is impossible without analysing the legacies of the former communist system, the developments in politics (including demoralisation of the ex-communist state apparatus), cultural factors and the specific features of the privatisation as actually conducted . |
