IDEOLOGY AND ECONOMICS: POST-SOVIET PERSPECTIVE

As the fifteen former soviet economies progress in their political, economic, institutional, and state-building development, the role of the ideology among them is being neglected. It is assumed that as the USSR collapsed, the role of socialistic or communistic ideologies is no more in the mind of the politicians and decision-makers or even citizens. However, for 70 years these countries used ideology, and only ideology to guide their societies. Complete deviation from the traditional courses of the state, or institutions among the former Soviet Union countries should be hard to ignore even today. In this light, the connections between ideology as a non-scientific factor that impacts economics seems to be relevant in the case of the former Soviet Union countries. Consequently, a set of questions arise: are the post-Soviet countries post-Soviet, or the legacy of the USSR is still present? How exactly an ideology must be pinpointed among the former Soviet countries? What is the overall situation related to the connection between the economic development and ideological situation among the ex-Soviet countries? This paper discusses the concept of ideology in the context of the Soviet economies, by briefly considering country examples, referring to the permanent importance of the notion of ideology in daily life, politics, and economics.