For a list of literature on Russian agriculture, click here!

* Private farming in Russia?: Describe the situation of the former collective farms in Russia and discuss how "private" they are (what are e.g.the definition of a private capitalist enterprise...).

* Private - Public in a postsocialist postcollective enterprise. How do you privatize public property and what are the consequence for the individual "kolkhoznik" - now shareholder and worker on a stockholding company (the farm).

*Laws, institutions and local responses in countryside (Russia/Lithuania) What role does the state play for the proces of privatisation? And what local responses to the institutional frame do you find in Russia/Lithuania?

* Ideology and models for collective farming in USSR. Discuss collective farming according the ideological model of the Soviet State.

* Compare the situation for private independent farmers in Lithuania and Russia. What are the basic differences concerning legislation, infrastructure etc. and the following consequences. And what do you
recommend to improve the situation e.g. in Russia?

* Does mentality matter? Is the personal mentality a question of relevance in relation to the agricultural development or would the right circumstance lead to successful farmers in a social-darwinistic manner (would western farmers succeed where Russian fail?)

* Or rephrasing the question --> Does history matter? And how to "break" with the past - if that is necessary - ?