Zero Sum

‘[Hecker’s] conclusion is bleak and correct: modern Russia was cursed, probably fatally, by its totalitarian and imperial past.’

-- The Times

'Hecker gives a largely accurate, frequently entertaining and occasionally enlightening account of Russia’s journey from communist to right-wing authoritarianism from a business perspective.'

-- The Irish Times

‘A magnificent book. A tour de force exploration of the rollercoaster story of Western capitalists and their misadventures in post-communist Russia, chronicling the hope, the naivety, the idealism, and the greed, arrogance and folly in glorious, highly readable detail. There has been no more thorough, moving or better-researched study of the epic cycle of the opening of Russia’s economy in a blaze of ill-founded optimism in the early 90s to its closing in bitter recrimination and conflict in the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Tight and acutely observed with an expert reporter’s eye, this book explains in forensic detail Russia’s path, made of equal parts of hope and venality, from what could have become a prosperous, peaceful European nation to its descent into bandit capitalism and totalitarian kleptocracy.’

-- Owen Matthews, author of Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine

‘Hecker captures all the adventure, greed and profound mismatch of business cultures that first enriched and then burned Western investors in post-Cold War Russia, a “Las Vegas with snow.” Zero Sum opens a new window onto how the West’s brief love affair with Russia could have gone so wrong, so fast.’

-- Marc Champion, international affairs columnist and former editor-in-chief of The Moscow Times

‘A masterful guide to Russia’s 1990s peaks and troughs, its 2000s apex and its contemporary valley between sanctions and Putin’s steadily tightening economic grip. Zero Sum lifts the veil on the thinking behind Western investment in Russia, with invaluable lessons for designing future approaches to economic security.’

-- Maximilian Hess, author of Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict between Russia and the West

‘A rollicking, readable account of an era in global history marked by heady risk taking and now a heavy reckoning on Russia. As the collective bet on Russia’s future comes in for rethinking, Zero Sum offers hard-earned and well-written lessons to business, government and other institutional leaders.’

-- John Gans, author of White House Warriors: How the National Security Council Transformed the American Way of War

‘A detailed and lively chronicle of the challenges faced by Western businesses trying to pursue trade and investment in Russia.’

-- Craig Kennedy, Center Associate, Davis Center for Eurasian and Russian Studies, Harvard University

‘A gripping and fresh account of the geopolitics of Western economic engagement and extrication from Russia. Hecker expertly reveals why globalisation failed to transform the country and how so many Western observers misread the Kremlin’s true calculus behind its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.’

-- Alexander Cooley, Claire Tow Professor of Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University