Collision and Collusion
Strange Case of Western Aid to Eastern Europe
Published on 14. December 1998
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-0-333-75328-6 (ISBN)
Description
When the Soviet Union's communist empire collapsed in 1989, a mood of euphoria took hold in the West and in Eastern Europe. The West had won the ultimate victory it had driven a silver stake through the heart of communism and buried it at last. Its next planned step was to help the nations of Eastern Europe to reconstruct themselves as democratic, free market states, full partners in the First World Order. But that, as Janine Wedel reveals in this volume, was before Western governments set their raft of poorly conceived programmes in motion. This text tells the story of Western governments' attempts to aid the former Soviet block. Janine Wedel uncovers how the arrival of a Western armada of ill informed consultants was soon followed by the subversion of funds by some Eastern politicians and bureaucrats for their own purposes. Within several years, Eastern Europeans were so frustrated and resentful that they began sending aid back overseas. The author shows how by mid decade, Western aid policies had often backfired, effectively discouraging market reforms and exasperating electorates who, remarkably, had voted back in the previously despised communists.
The text explains where the Western dollars intended to aid Eastern Europe went, and why they did so little to help. Taking a hard, behind the scenes look at the bureaucrats, politicians, and consultants who worked to set up Western economic and political systems in Eastern Europe, the author details the extraordinary costs of institutional ignorance, cultural misunderstanding, and unrealistic expectations.
The text explains where the Western dollars intended to aid Eastern Europe went, and why they did so little to help. Taking a hard, behind the scenes look at the bureaucrats, politicians, and consultants who worked to set up Western economic and political systems in Eastern Europe, the author details the extraordinary costs of institutional ignorance, cultural misunderstanding, and unrealistic expectations.
Reviews / Votes
'Wedel's probing look at cross-cultural miscommunication demonstrates that Western resolve and the global rush to benefit from the demise of communist rule was costly not only to societies resistant to change, but to the American taxpayer as well.' - Washington Post 'Wedel's research reveals how little Western 'aid' really got to where it was supposed to go and why even much that did failed to help. Wedel's bold, invaluable report is frightening for its revelations and political implications.' - Publishers Weekly '[Wedel] focuses on the role of outsiders in the reform process, including USAID and collaborators from Harvard. She marches the reader through this complicated interaction with ease, but most of the way wagging her finger at the Westerners.' - Foreign Affairs 'Very critical and troubling analysis of the shortcomings of Western aid policy, particularly to Russia. The implications of Wedel's critical assessment need t be seriously taken into account.' - Zbigniew Brzezinski 'Janine Wedel's admirable new book...argues, convincingly, that the lack of accountability on both sides ultimately compromised all those involved. Today, Mr Chubais is perhaps the most hated man in Russia - and the favoritism shown him by his Western backers has blackened their reputations among Russians, perhaps irrevocably. Aid, it would seem, can hurt as well as help.' - The Wall Street Journal 'Ms Wedel...is good at conjuring up the sense of adventure and psychological complexity that ensued as West and East got to know each other up close. She carefully charts the misunderstandings and cultural collisions as Western aid-givers tried to impose their own terms of reference on societies they were usually poorly equipped to understand...[The] fourth chapter of this book...should be declared obligatory reading.' - Christian Caryl, The Wall Street Journal '...an excellent study of cross-cultural miscommunication...Wedel's book should become obligatory reading for anyone contemplating business in Central and Eastern Europe.' - Moscow TimesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Basingstoke
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
index
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 146 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
467 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-333-75328-6 (9780333753286)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
JANINE WEDEL is Associate Research Professor and Research Fellow at the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Affairs at George Washington University. She is the author of The Private Poland: An Anthropologist Looks at Everyday Life and The Unplanned Society: Poland During and After Communism, as well as numerous articles for such newspapers as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Content
Preface: Some Enchanted Era East Meets West: A New Order for the Second World The Aid Machine: A New Mission for Old Bureaucracies Consultants for Capitalism: Conflicts and Company Towns A Few Favored Groups: Greed and the Green Jet Set A Few Good Reformers: The St. Petersburg Clan, Harvard, and U.S. Economic Aid A Few Good Financiers: Wall Street Bankers and Biznesmeni Seven Years Later: Second Thoughts from the Second World Appendix: An Anthropologist's Approach Notes Index