Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World

by Adam Tooze

eurozone until 2012. But what was now at stake was not just financial solvency but victory in a geopolitical tug of war. In his first period as president, Putin’s legitimacy had been based in large part on a sustained recovery in living standards. That easy narrative was broken by the crisis of 2008. From 2014 onward economic expectations were further diminished. Over the winter of 2014–2015 GDP was falling by more than 10 percent per annum. It would not stabilize until the second half of 2015. For ordinary Russians the crisis of 2014–2015 was considerably worse than that of 2008–2009. Real wages fell more sharply and rebounded less vigorously. The Russia that emerged from the Ukraine clash was above all a nationalist regime whose citizens were called upon to pay whatever price was necessary for their nation’s reemergence on the global stage. It was tough, but it was a role that came easily. And, indeed, in some respects one might even say it was convenient.73 As prime minister during the 2008 crisis Putin had thrown himself into hands-on domestic crisis fighting.74 Since his return to the presidency in 2012, the Kremlin had been inciting nationalism to offset disappointing economic growth and disappointing poll ratings. Given the collapse in oil prices in 2014–2015, some campaign of nationalist incitement was only to be expected. The crisis in Ukraine was perfectly timed. Even with the economy languishing, Putin’s personal popularity surged from a low in 2013 in the mid-4...