Macdonald Says, We Are Leavening Russia

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As countries got richer and more open, they would also get freer. There would be more world democracies? Yes. And if you read or study the people who were running the soviet union as it collapsed,. Many of them believe it would become like europe, like america. When china began to open up, certainly a big junk of people felt the ultimate direction was not just that it would embrace macdonalds and starbucks but political reform too.

The 1990 opening of a McDonald's in Russia heralded not just burgers and fries but, get this, a new era of peace and prosperity. The Economist’s Patrick Foulis explains how the promises of globalization never entirely materialized.

This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard with help from Victoria Dominguez, engineered by Paul Mounsey, and hosted by Noel King.

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