№4 (29) / 2025  

Release Date 10.11.2025

 ECONOMIC THEORY

 

 

Volchik Vyacheslav

DSc in Economics, Professor, Head of the Department of Economic Theory of the Faculty of Economics

 Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0027-3442

 

Kot Vera

PhD (Economics), Associate Professor of the Department of Economic Theory of the Faculty of Economics

 Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6910-2086

 

REFORMS: THE FACTOR OF IDEOLOGY IN THE LIGHT OF RUSSIAN SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

Размер файла 20-35 Размер файла  193 K Размер файла Text of the Article   License Creative Commons 4.0 

The article examines the influence of ideology on the processes of social and economic transformation based on a qualitative analysis of the most cited articles by Russian economists in the scientific electronic library eLibrary.RU for the period 1992-2025. In this article, we are based on the theses put forward by the famous Russian economist V.M. Polterovich spoke about the negative impact of ideologies on the development of reform strategies in "catching up countries", and the thesis that following the dominant ideology leads away from the latest achievements of economic science: The analysis of scientific articles to confirm the theses was carried out in stages over the periods 1992-1997, 1998-2002, 2003-2007, 2008-2012, 2013-2017 and 2018-2025. The thesis about the systemic limitations of ideologically determined reforms leads to a one-sided understanding of economic processes and a violation of an integrated approach to regulation. Special attention is paid to the second thesis – the lag of ideology from modern scientific knowledge. Using the example of China, an alternative approach is shown, where pragmatic ideology played a key role in the successful implementation of market reforms without the use of shock therapy, while maintaining manageability. The Chinese experience shows that ideology can serve as a catalyst for transformation, ensuring political stability by combining market mechanisms and strategic planning. Thus, the article suggests rethinking the role of ideology in carrying out reforms as a flexible tool that, when used pragmatically, contributes to achieving sustainable economic and social results.

Keywords: ideology, economic reforms, economic science, economic policy, Chinese experience of reform

JEL: A14, B41, C88

UDC: 330.101, 330.88

DOI: 10.52342/2587-7666VTE_2025_4_20_35

 

© V. Volchik, V. Kot, 2025

© Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences «Issues of Theoretical Economics», 2025

Source of funding: This work was supported by the grant of Russian Science Foundation No. 24-18-00665, https://rscf.ru/en/project/24-18-00665/ “Ideological landscape of Russian economic science” at Southern Federal University.

 

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Manuscript submission date  07.09.2025

Manuscript acceptance date: 27.09.2025

 

For citation:

Volchik V., Kot V. Reforms: the Factor of Ideology in the Light of Russian Scientific Publications // Voprosy teoreticheskoy ekonomiki. 2025. No. 4. Pp. 20–35. DOI: 10.52342/2587-7666VTE_2025_4_20_35.