The collapse of the Soviet Union was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century. It created a crisis for state-led development models. While the most direct impacts were on the 15 former Soviet republics and the Eastern Bloc countries of the Warsaw Pact. Many developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, which had adopted elements of central planning and state-led development, often influenced by Soviet ideology or simply seeing it as a tool for rapid industrialization also encountered a set-back. Countries actively sought integration with Western economic institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and later the World Trade Organization (WTO). In doing so they adopting market-oriented principles and ultimately abandoned central planning in different ways. Some embarked on a whole sale difficult transition towards market economies (often called “shock therapy”). While others transformed their specific models of socialism to adopt models of varied ‘market socialism’.

However, integration into world market came with a heavy cost for the majority of countries as the impact of neoliberalism and its current decline prove. This webinar series aims to explore the basics of central planning as they existed around the world and understand the relevance of planned development today. The discussions will focus on the diverse cases of Russia, Eastern Europe and East Asia to provide a historical analysis of their respective planning models, the strengths and limitations of their implementation as well as a rich analysis of economic debates and ideas of economists.

This is a joint collaboration with IDEAs.

Editor: Farwa Sial