Davies explores and questions the central business challenges of a world in transition. Having shifted from a unipolar world dominated by the USA to a new untested multi-polar environment, we must continue to learn about the economic landscape that will in fluctation for the next decade.

Based on extensive research in formerly secret archives, this volume examines the progress of Soviet industrialisation against the background of the rising threat of aggression from Germany, Japan and Italy, and the consolidation of Stalin's power.