According to Credit Suisse, Russia is the most unequal society in the world in terms of wealth, though not in terms of income - a factoid mentioned on the Daily Show recently. But among the ten most wealth-equal societies in the world, there is something highly interesting. Five of them (Belarus, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Ethiopia) are traditionally Orthodox. Five of them (Slovakia, Belarus, Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro) are Slavic countries. Five of them (Belarus, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Tajikistan) are ex-Warsaw Pact and two of these are ex-Soviet. Further down the list are Slovenia, Armenia, Moldova and Croatia - all within the top twenty. Though obviously drawing conclusions from these rankings seems methodologically suspect to say the least, it would seem on its face that the manifest problems Russia has with inequality, oligarchy and rampant greed do not come from its Slavic, Orthodox or post-Communist heritage, except possibly insofar as that post-Communist heritage has included meddling by the apostles of neoliberalism and shock therapy.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 04:31:21 +0000
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