Production, conversion, specificity of assets, and markets: Constraints for a global restructuring in Russia

The production units of the military-industrial complex operate under the constraints imposed by the general context of the transformation of the socio-economic system in Russia. So conversion is closely linked to the global transformation: we are dealing with a process and an objective which are totally interlinked with the restructuring process of the whole of the industrial base. Conversion is also undertaken concomitant with the emergence of a decentralised but a more and more theoretical money-based commercial economy (step backwards of the money-based economy, high transaction costs, barter). There are indeed specific constraints associated with the defense sector but these cannot be isolated from a more global analysis so long as the situation in the country's institutions and operating systems remains precarious. The question of conversion in Russia cannot be dissociated from a reflection, on the one hand, concerning the nature and the specificity of the assets of the production units, and, on the other hand, concerning the very concentrated nature of military production activity located over such a vast territory.