Charles Hecker
Available now to order in UK and US
An independent publisher since 1969
Zero Sum is part of Hurst's New Perspectives on Eastern Europe and Eurasia series, edited by Dr. Ben Noble of UCL.
Zero Sum is published in the US by Oxford University Press.
Synopsis
When the hammer and sickle flag came down in late 1991, a feverish new market called Russia opened for business. From banking to breweries, entire sectors emerged out of nowhere, in a country that had never had a functioning economy. For the next three turbulent decades, a wild, proto-capitalist free-for-all transformed Russian society.
Then, in 2022, Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The market started to collapse; Western firms fled Moscow’s skyscrapers. No country this large had ever transformed itself as dizzyingly as did Russia. Now, just as dramatically, it was over. The intervening decades saw phenomenal successes and crushing failures; the creation and destruction of enormous fortunes. How did it all happen?
Zero Sum brings to life the complex, vivid colour of one of the greatest experiments in the history of global commerce. What have businesses learnt—or failed to learn—from this adventure, both about Russia and about the dynamics between countries and companies in the face of relentless change?
Biography
Charles Hecker has spent forty years travelling and working in the Soviet Union and Russia. He has worked as a journalist at The Miami Herald and The Moscow Times, and as a geopolitical risk consultant at Control Risks, where he was a partner in the firm.
While at Control Risks, Charles helped dozens of leading, international companies invest safely in Russia and manage the dynamic array of risks the country presented as it developed as a market. From 2000 to 2008, he was the managing partner of Control Risks' Moscow office.
He is a regular contributor to Monocle Radio and has offered expert commentary on Times Radio, CNN, the BBC, CNBC and Bloomberg TV, among others.
A fluent Russian speaker, he holds an undergraduate degree in Russian and Soviet Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from the Russian Research Center (now called the Davis Center) at Harvard University.
Charles grew up in the Connecticut suburbs of New York City, with a brief stint in South Bend, Indiana. He has also lived in Miami and Moscow, and currently resides in East London.
If you would like a copy of Charles' professional CV, please use the request form further below.
Photo credit: Larissa Kouznetsova
Upcoming and Past Events
Past Events
NYU Center for Global Affairs at the School of Professional Studies, with thanks to Dr Carolyn Kissane (not pictured) and Rachel Ziemba - 10 April, 2025
Control Risks Washington DC breakfast briefing at the Army & Navy Club - 20 March, 2025
Private dinner hosted by Chris Marlin, Novikov restaurant, Miami - 7 March, 2025
Books & Books held an evening with Charles Hecker discussing Zero Sum: The Arc of International Business in Russia.
Book lecture, School of Communications, University of Miami - 6 March, 2025
Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, Washington DC, hosted by Joshua Huminski - 4 March, 2025
