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date: 04 March 2021

Abstract and Keywords

Western intelligence always has underestimated Russia’s military-industrial potential. Russia’s weapons production capacity in 1937 vastly exceeded Germany’sand had various technological advantages as well. This chapterdocuments Russia’s weapons production record and the scope of its military-industrial activities and then delves into the rationality and efficiency of the Kremlin’s approach, which is dubbed the “Muscovite system.” Comparisons are made with other European and U.S.models (from a neoclassical economic perspective) to pinpoint strengths and vulnerabilities, with special emphasis on RDT&E, technology transfer, and innovation. VitalyShlykov’s concept of structural militarizationis introduced to illuminate why the core Stalinist military industrial system didn’t vanish with the Soviet Union. Anatoly Serdyukov’s 2009reforms may, however, mark the beginning of the end for structural militarization, and perhaps more problematically the end of a half millennium of Muscovite strategic opportunism.

Keywords: Soviet military forces, Soviet military burden, structural militarization, Soviet-Muscovite military-industrial system, rent granting, military-industrial complex (VPK), revolution in military affairs, Serdyukov reforms

Steven Rosefielde

Steven Rosefielde is a Professor of Economics in the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RAEN). His research interests include Russian, European and Asian economic systems.

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