The End of a Violent Era: The Role of Force in Russian Business Conflicts∗

Analyses of Russia frequently focus on sensationalistic cases of property rights abuses, often involving high-profile business tycoons and oligarchs. This narrow focus offers an unrepresentative portrayal of the contemporary Russian business world. By contrast, this article examines ordinary Russian firms ’ practices for resolving property rights and contract disputes. Based on in-depth interviews and an original survey of Russian firms, I demonstrate a dramatic decline in the use of private coercion to protect property rights. Firms that once turned to mafia rackets and private security agencies for protection now utilize courts and law enforcement officials. New threats from state actors, however, have replaced the threat of private coercion. Despite the risks these new threats pose to Russian firms, they differ significantly from the outright violence of the 1990s: The struggle over property rights has moved from the streets to the courtrooms of the judiciary and offices of the bureaucracy. Whether this is a step toward the rule of law or a development that will leave institutions mired in corruption remains to be seen