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The purpose of this paper is to examine the dramatically changed role of Russia in the global economy since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, as the Soviet institutions collapsed and were either reformed or replaced in a new Russian institutional landscape. The paper presents a fact-based and balanced view of Russia’s evolving role in the global economy, as distinguished from the sometimes one-sided view presented by some Western commentators. The authors establish that the two countervailing views are fundamentally based on different cultural perspectives about institutions, primarily the roles of business and government.

This paper is developed as a perspectives article drawing upon the decades of academic and business experience of all three authors with Russian business, management and the economy. The paper focuses on the structure of Russian institutional change and places it within the historical context of the challenges of various periods of time from the late 1980s to the present. The authors posit that cultural foundations complicate that institutional evolution.

Russia will remain a major player in world markets for energy, raw materials and armaments for the near future at least. Principal institutional questions facing Russia have to do with how to reduce the country’s overall dependence on raw material exports, with its vulnerability to world market fluctuations, and how to modernize Russian economic and political institutions. The degree of success in addressing these questions will depend largely upon the ability of the new and reformed economic institutions to show the flexibility to respond to changes in the global order, on whether political considerations will continue to supersede economic issues, and how markedly cultural traditions will continue to impede positive changes.

The entire system of international trade is under question, disrupted by the growing nationalism that is threatening the globalization that became institutionalized over decades in the wake of the Second World War. Russia’s future role is partially dependent upon how new patterns of international trade develop in response to the current disruption of established trade regimes, and by how political conflicts are expressed economically. The authors observe that Russia’s historical and cultural traditions, especially acquiescence to a highly centralized government with a strong autocratic leader, limit the country’s options. The authors explore how Russia’s reactions to Western sanctions have led to a new strategic approach, moving away from full engagement in the global economy to selective economic, and sometimes political, alliances with primarily non-Western countries, most notably China. The authors contrast Russia’s situation with that of China, which has been able to make substantial economic progress while still embracing a strong, centralized political institutional structure.

Many Western analysts have viewed Russian institutional evolution very critically through the lens of Western politics and sanctions, while Russia has continued along its own path of economic and institutional development. Each view, the authors argue, is based upon differing cultural perspectives of the roles of business and government. As a result, a distinct difference exists between the Western and Russian perspectives on Russia’s role in the world. This paper presents both points of view and explores the future of Russia’s position in the world economy based upon its evolving strategy for national economic policy. The authors contrast the situations of Russia and China, highlighting how Western-centric cultural views have affected perceptions of each country, sometimes similarly and at times with decided differences.

This introductory paper aims to outline the reasons for optimism as well as for skepticism in regard to Russia's position in the group of BRIC nations and in the global economy.

The paper presents a brief overview of developments in Russia. This discussion serves as a contextual introduction to this special issue by embracing some of the common themes elaborated in the other papers that are featured in the issue.

The paper takes a balanced perspective by discussing both positive and negative trends in Russia's development.

The paper sets the context in which the other papers that comprise this special issue can be situated.

Despite the substantial body of international research exploring the effects of forced migration on mental health and the obstacles faced by refugee cohorts in accessing mental health services, there is a lack of in-depth studies specifically focusing on Bosnian refugees in Australia – one of the largest ethnic groups of displaced peoples. This qualitative investigation seeks to convey the experiences of mental health services by five Bosnian refugees in Melbourne, highlighting perceived pathways and barriers to service utilisation. This study aims to address two primary research questions: firstly, what characterises the experiences of Bosnian refugees in Australia when accessing mental health services? Secondly, what are the main barriers encountered by this population when seeking mental health services?

This study used qualitative inquiry and in-depth interviews to investigate the experiences of Bosnian refugees with mental health services in Australia. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews with five Melbourne-based Bosnian refugees who had previously accessed mental health services. Participants were recruited from community groups or associations using purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was used.

Key themes were revealed, such as the crucial role of social and community services, preferences for individual vs group therapy, potential re-traumatisation from therapeutic engagement, distrust of government-run mental health services and concerns regarding psychopharmaceutical prescription practices. Addressing barriers to mental health service access necessitates a multifaceted approach, including flexible social and community service support, an increased number of co-ethnic professionals and a recognition of cultural variations for effective service provision. Implementing these strategies can enhance help-seeking behaviours, provide culturally appropriate mental health services and improve the experiences of Bosnian refugees in Australia.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to qualitatively explore how Bosnian refugees in Melbourne perceived the adequacy and availability of mental health services upon arrival to Australia. They are a large and potentially vulnerable community, due to experiences of war trauma and dislocation from country of origin. A lack of understanding regarding how this cohort engage with mental health services can lead to persistent inequities and ineffective service provision. This study identifies unique experiences and perspectives of Bosnian refugee participants, including distrust of government-run mental health services, and concerns regarding psychopharmaceutical prescription practices. This research is expected to contribute positively to the discourse on mental health service provision for Bosnian refugees and wider refugee communities in Australia.

The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative analysis of institutions and institutional voids in Russia, Brazil, and Poland over the decades of the 1980s through to 2015. The paper asserts that Russia and Brazil could learn much from Poland regarding formal institution building and formal institutional voids that cause problems like corruption and limit economic growth.

A comparative case study approach is utilized to assess the relative success of the three emerging market countries in transitioning to a market economy, viewed through the lens of institutional theory.

Poland’s experience in building successful formal institutions and mitigating major institutional voids can be instructive for Russia and Brazil which have shown far less success, and correspondingly less sustained economic growth.

This paper demonstrates the value of applying institutional theory to analyze the progress of emerging economies in transitioning to a market economy.

This country comparison can prove valuable to other emerging economies seeking a successful transition to a market economy.

Since institutions are the fabric of any society, the emphasis on institutions in this paper can have positive implications for society in emerging markets.

This paper is an original comparison of two BRIC countries with a smaller emerging economy, utilizing institutional theory. Factors contributing to Poland’s success are compared to Russia and Brazil to assess how those countries might be positively informed by Poland’s experience in building and strengthening sustainable formal institutions as well as avoiding institutional voids and their associated problems.

The study attempts to assess the relationship between sociodemographic factors and the risk tolerance level of stock market investors reflected by their trading behavior from the perspective of developing market economy.

The study collected data from a survey on capital market investors in Bangladesh. Portfolio beta has been used as a dependent variable to measure the risk tolerance level where total 11 sociodemographic factors have been used as independent variables.

Among all study variables, three sociodemographic factors are found to be significant in differentiating the risk tolerance level of the stock market investors. The author finds that the risk tolerance level of stock market investors significantly varies according to marital status, family size and financial responsibility.

As sociodemographic characteristics provide a basis in assessing the investor risk tolerance level in the context of developing market economies, the study suggests that stock market related policy and investment management planning process should be formulated by incorporating behavioral aspects of the retail investors.

This study has the potential to contribute to the behavioral finance literature by showing how and at what extent sociodemographic factors may influence the risk tolerance level of stock market investors in developing countries, where sociodemographic factors are considered to be more dominating than the normative portfolio selection procedure because of lacking in investors' financial literacy and due to the presence of a weak regulatory as well as institutional framework. Further, apart from identifying and comprehensively incorporating all possible sociodemographic factors, this study uses portfolio beta as a new objective measure for financial risk tolerance, which overcomes the problem of subjective and other risk tolerance measurement in the existing literature.

Health impact assessment (HIA) is a systematic research and public engagement tool used to elevate health and equity in public policies. However, HIA practitioners often overlook potential mental health impacts. The purpose of this paper is to review the degree to which mental health is included in HIAs in the USA.

The authors conducted a systematic review of 156 HIAs that were completed between 1993 and 2013 for their inclusion of mental health. HIAs were subdivided to assess if mental health conditions or their determinants were measured, and if predictions or mitigation strategies were made in the scoping, assessment, or recommendations phases.

Overall, 73.1 percent of HIAs included mental health. Of the HIAs that included mental health (n=114), 85.1 percent also included the determinants of mental health and 67.6 percent included mental health outcomes. 37.7 percent of HIAs measured baseline mental health conditions and 64.0 percent predicted changes in mental health as the result of implementing the proposed policy, plan, or program. Among the HIAs that made predictions about mental health, 79.5 percent included recommendations for potential changes in mental health, while only 46.6 percent had measured mental health at baseline.

Although many HIAs included mental health in some capacity, this paper quantifies that mental health is not included in a robust way in HIAs in the USA. This presents a difficulty for efforts to address the growing issues of mental health and mental health inequities in the populations.

This paper represents the first academic endeavor to systematically assess the state of the field of HIA for its inclusion of mental health.