The story of Russia's historic opening to the West (1992-2022), where it succeeded and why it has failed, the impact of war and sanctions, and the prospects for Russia's future.Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 brought a tragic close to a thirty-year period of history that began with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reopening of Russia to the West after six decades of Soviet isolation. The opening lasted for three tumultuous decades and ended with a new closing, driven by the Ukrainian war, the imposition of Western sanctions, and the Russian responses to them.In Perfect Storm, Russia analyst Thane Gustafson reinterprets the story of Russia's failed opening to the West, focusing on its economic, technological, and social aspects, and the role they played in its ultimate failure. These parallel events are essential for understanding what happened and what went wrong. Yet they have received much less attention than the military and geopolitical aspects of the current conflict. Gustafson tells the story of the West's entry into Russia, the arrival of Russians into the West, and the conflicting emotions and responses these aroused on both sides, contributing to the ultimate breakdown of relations and the unprecedented hurricane of Western sanctions. The book concludes with an examination of possible futures under a new generation of leaders.A measured and nuanced account of the evolution of Russia's economic relations with the world, Perfect Storm illuminates the longer history of Russia's opening to the West, from its achievements and disappointments to the complexity of the post-invasion sanctions regime and Russia's responses to them.FeaturesServes as a concise yet authoritative history of both the Russian economy and Russia's economic relations with the West from the fall of the USSR to the presentDraws upon author's thirty-year experience as a consultant on Western business in Russia and as a professor of government at Georgetown UniversityTells the stories of the many individuals who played key parts on both sidesWeaves together an analysis of the Russia sanctions with a description of the machinery of the Western sanctions, showing their strengths and weaknesses as well as the Russian responses to them, and their likely long-term impact
