F1511 Comparing Cultures. Russia between East and West: Geo-Political Models and their Cultural Context
Mazur Natalia, Doronchenkov Ilya
Russian political discourse accompanying the annexation of Crimea and conflict with Ukraine has clearly demonstrated how intimately Russian politics are connected to geo-political models of the past. The reaction of the western countries was equally rich in stereotypes. Geo-political models generated in ‘high’ cultures descend into mass culture and largely outlive the elites and parties that created them. Familiarity with these models helps not only to understand the logic of contemporary political discourse, but sometimes even to predict political moves. During the course we will trace the main geo-political models within their cultural contexts defining the troubled relationship between Europe and Russia.
1. Orientation week.
2. Introduction. The Ever-Changing European Other: Barbarians, Saracens, Mongols, Turks, Russians
For many centuries the concept of civilization and Christian doctrine were the two cornerstones of European identity. Antiquity opposed the civilized South and the barbaric North. The Middle Ages believed in the res publica christiana albeit split by the East–West Schism. Saracens, Mongols and Turks representing religions and civilizations distant from the European one were naturally perceived as the (non-)European Other. Orthodox Russia stood somewhat forlornly on the margins of the European world. The remains of these perceptions still influence international politics. How?
Reading:
Neumann, Iver B. Uses of the Other. The 'East' in European Identity Formation. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, Borderline Series, 1999. Introduction, chap. 1 (Turkey), chap. 2 (Russia).
Recommended further reading (throughout the whole semester):
Groh, Dieter. Russland und das Selbstverständnis Europas. Luchterhand, Neuwied, 1961. Italian translation: La Russia e l'autocoscienza d'Europa. Torino, Einaudi 1980. Introduction, chap. 1.
3. Russia enters Europe: history and political mythology.
Russia embraced eastern Christianity when Prince Vladimir was baptized in Corsun’ (Crimea) and upon his return to Kiev banished the old pagan religion (988). This half-legendary episode of Russian history proves to be of crucial importance for the present political conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Not only Crimea where the namesake of the Russian president was baptized, but the whole legacy of Kievan Rus (10th – 13th centuries) is now disputed by armed factions. Why?
Russia embraced autocracy through the summoning of the Varangian rulers by the northern tribes (862). This episode (also semi-legendary) not only helped the representation of Russian monarchs as foreigners (as in many other countries), it also caused a long political discussion about a (non)existent political tradition in Russia. Now this discussion is being replayed with Ukraine. To what end?
Russia embraced western civilization through the northern city-republics (Novgorod, Pskov). This socio-political tradition destroyed by centralized power (Ivan IV in 1569) was several times harked back to by later ideological models. How?
Reading:
Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. Russian Identities: A Historical Survey. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 3 – 73.
Wortman, Richard S. The Invention of Tradition and the Representation of Russian Monarchy, in: Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 28, No. 1/4, RUS' WRIT LARGE: LANGUAGES, HISTORIES, CULTURES: Essays Presented in Honor of Michael S. Flier on His Sixty-Fifth Birthday (2006), pp. 651-662.
Neumann, Iver B. Russia and the Idea of Europe: A Study in Identity and International Relations, London: Routledge, 1996, pp. 5 – 10.
Recommended further reading (throughout the whole semester):
Pipes, Richard. Russia under the Old Regime. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974 (2nd ed.: 1995).
4. Russian Renaissance or the “terrible” rule of Ivan IV?
After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453) the Moscovite Rus claimed the Byzantine legacy. To strengthen these claims Ivan III married a Byzantine princess Zoe Palaiologina (1472). This dynastic marriage had important consequences for Russian culture and ideology. At the end of the 15th – beginning of the 16th centuries Italian architects built Renaissance churches and fortresses later considered as typical Russian cathedrals and kremlins. The doctrine of Moscow as a ‘Third Rome’ (capital of the third and last empire after the fall of Rome and Constantinople) with its strong messianic and eschatological connotations was elaborated.
Russian expansion east and west in the 16th century received different interpretations. Wars against Crimean and Kazan Tartars could be perceived as enlarging and securing the borders of the Christian world against the Muslim Other; expansion West – as an urge towards direct commercial and technological exchange with the European world blocked by Sweden, Livonian Order and the Hansa cities. However, the latter saw Russians as barbarians menacing the Western world. Poland started representing itself as an antemurale christianitatis protecting Europe both from Turks and Russians. The last years of Ivan IV (the Terrible)'s rule sparked a wave of anti-Russian propaganda: Russia was described as the land of tyranny, slavery, ignorance and cruelty. These stereotypes were revived in the 20th century when the figure of Ivan IV became symbolic for Stalin’s rule. Are they still haunting international politics?
Reading:
Riasanovsky, Nicholas & Steinberg, Mark. A History of Russia. Oxford University Press, USA, 2010. Part IV. Chap. 15 – 16.
Cherniavsky, Michael. Ivan the Terrible as Renaissance Prince, in: Slavic Review. Vol. 27, No. 2 (Jun., 1968), pp. 195-211.
Watching: “Ivan the Terrible” by Sergey Eisenshtein.
Recommended further reading:
Kappeler, Andreas. Ivan Groznyj im Spiegel der ausländischen Druckschriften seiner Zeit. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des westlichen Rußlandbildes. Lang, Bern / Frankfurt am Main, 1972,
Perrie, Maureen. The Cult of Ivan the Terrible in Stalin's Russia, Houndmills: Palgrave, 2001
5. The Time of Troubles and the Troubled Relationship between modern Russia and its Closest Neighbors
The geo-political claims of modern Russia can be traced back to the 17th century: the so-called Time of Troubles (1598 – 1613) when the occupation of the country by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth led to national mobilization, liberation and the establishment of the Romanov dynasty (1613). The following expansion westwards brought Ukraine under Russian rule (1654). Throughout the 20th century these events served as an inexhaustible source of historical analogies (celebrations of the 300 years of the Romanov dynasty in 1913; the 300th anniversary of the Russian-Ukrainian Union in 1954; establishment of a new state holiday – the so-called Unity Day (November 4th) to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Time of Troubles in 2005. These events are still drawn upon as political arguments. How?
Reading:
Himka, John-Paul. The Basic Historical Identity Formations in Ukraine: A Typology, in: Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 28, No. 1/4, RUS' WRIT LARGE: LANGUAGES, HISTORIES, CULTURES: Essays Presented in Honor of Michael S. Flier on His Sixty-Fifth Birthday (2006), pp. 483-500
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4103697
LeDonne, John. Poltava and the Geopolitics of Western Eurasia, in: Harvard Ukrainian Studies. Vol. 31, No. 1/4, 2009-2010. POLTAVA 1709: THE BATTLE AND THE MYTH (2009-2010), pp. 177-191. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4175650
Watching: Opera “A Life for the Tsar” by Mikhail Glinka
Recommended further reading:
Kappeler, Andreas. “Great Russians” and “Little Russians”: Russian-Ukrainian Relations and Perceptions in Historical Perspective. University of Washington, Washington, 2003.
6. Enlightened Despots: Peter I and Catherine II
In the 18th century Russia continued expanding east and west in pursuit of sea-coasts and a prominent role on the European political scene. Peter I perceived fighting for an exit to the Black Sea as an advance of Christianity against the Turks and tried to initiate a new European crusade. Catherine II conquered Crimea and created Novorossia (a ‘new Russia’ on the Black Sea so much desired by modern Russian politicians) pursuing her ‘Greek project’ which meant liberating the orthodox Greeks from the Turkish yoke and gaining a piece of the cultural and symbolic heritage of classical antiquity for Russia. However, wars with Sweden and Poland over an exit to the Baltic Sea and control of vast territories belonging to modern Ukraine and Poland did not improve Russia's reputation in the eyes of Europe. European reactions to Peter I were ambiguous – from Prometheus creating new Russians (Gottsched’s ode on his death) to a cruel reformer with no human feelings (Voltaire’s “Histoire de Charles XII”). Catherine II spared no effort in constructing an image of an enlightened monarchy, recruiting the French ‘philosophes’ as her advocates. Nevertheless, Montesquieu and Rousseau severely criticized the Northern barbaric despotism and British graphic satire represented her as a blood-thirsty Messalina.
Reading:
LeDonne, John P. Geopolitics, Logistics, and Grain: Russia's Ambitions in the Black Sea Basin, 1737-1834, in: The International History Review, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Mar., 2006), pp. 1-41. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40110722
Schönle, Andreas. Garden of the Empire: Catherine's Appropriation of the Crimea, in: Slavic Review, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Spring, 2001), pp. 1-23. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/26976
Recommended further reading:
LeDonne, John. The Grand Strategy of the Russian Empire, 1660–1831. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Wolff, Larry. Inventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment. Stanford University Press, 1994 (2 ed.: 1996).
7. Europe between the Two Revolutions (1789 – 1848): New Oppositions
New oppositions gained momentum in European thought after 1789: freedom vs. despotism and legitimism vs. revolution; their association with France and Russia was described by E.L. Posselt as a choice between the red cap and the knout. Napoleonic expansion stimulated a surge of national movements both conservative and liberal in nature. The new Romantic philosophy replaced the old model of universal progress with a new concept of a unique national spirit. In response to these challenges Russian thought was divided into two strands – the Russophiles (later – the Slavophiles) and the Westerners. Their doctrines are still present in Russian political discourse. In what way?
Reading:
Stein, Howard F. Russian Nationalism and the Divided Soul of the Westernizers and Slavophiles, in: Ethos, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Winter, 1976), pp. 403-438. Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/64015
Tsygankov, Andrei P. Self and Other in International Relations Theory: Learning from Russian Civilizational Debates, in: International Studies Review. Vol. 10, No. 4 (Dec., 2008), pp. 762-775
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2548202
Recommended further reading:
Walicki, Andrzej. A History of Russian Thought: From the Enlightenment to Marxism. Stanford University Press, 1979.
8. Round-Table: Historical Roots of Modern Politics
Each student (or group of students from the same country) will make a presentation illustrating similar processes in their own countries.
9. The Eastern Question and the Decline of Europe
In 1830s – 1840s a wave of russophobia was sweeping across Europe due to an unsuccessful Polish resurrection (1830) and to the growth of Russian influence over the territories of the weakening Ottoman Empire. However, at the same time European thought was preoccupied with the “decline of Europe” (Zchokke, Tocqueville, Heine, etc.) and looking for a renewal of the old world from the (semi-)European Others – America or Russia. The conservatives saw the Russian Tsar as the last safeguard of the legitimate order and the Russian peasant as an antidote to the perils of anarchy and capitalism. The Crimean war (1853 – 56) demonstrated the width of the gap between Russia and Europe stimulating both the westernization of Russian administrative and law system (the Great Reforms of 1860s) and the idea of a Russian “special way”(Dostoevsky).
Reading:
Neumann, Iver B. Russia and the Idea of Europe: a Study in Identity and International Relations. Routledge, London, 1995, pp. 40 – 94.
Cross, Anthony. The Crimean War and the Caricature War, in: The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 84, No. 3 (Jul., 2006), pp. 460-480. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/421432
Recommended further reading:
Kozelsky, Mara. Christianizing Crimea: Shaping Sacred Space in the Russian Empire and Beyond. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2010.
10. Hopes and Fears of Fin-de-siècle Europe
By the end of the 19th century the idea of the imminent collapse of Europe was gaining momentum: new barbarian invasions were expected from Russia and Asia (the so-called ‘yellow peril’). These fears were fed by conspiracy theories: the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the testament of Peter the Great, etc. Pan-Slavism, pan-Germanism, pan-Turkism were threatening to tear apart the tissue of the old Europe.
The Pan-Slavic movement and the birth of new Slavic states was becoming a serious influence on European geo-political balance. Some representatives of Russian political and intellectual elite cherished the idea of Russia becoming a natural center of the Slavic and Orthodox world and a counterbalance to the growing power of Germany. Others were developing the old model of colonization as civilization and Christianization, and promoting expansion eastwards.
Reading:
Engelstein, Laura. Holy Russia in Modern Times: An Essay on Orthodoxy and Cultural Change, in: Past & Present, No. 173 (Nov., 2001), pp. 129-156. Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/360084
Laruelle, Marlene. ‘The White Tsar’: Romantic Imperialism in Russia’s Legitimizing of Conquering the Far East, in: Acta Slavica Iaponica. Vol. 25 (2008), pp. 113-134.
http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/acta/25/laruelle.pdf
Resis, Albert. Russophobia and the "Testament" of Peter the Great, 1812-1980, in: Slavic Review, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Winter, 1985), pp. 681-693. Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/249854
Recommended further reading:
Pipes, Richard. The Three "Whys" of the Russian Revolution. Vintage, 1997.
11. The New World Order
The revolutions in Russia (1917) and Germany (1918) forced a new class discourse upon the old national one. Under the motto “Proletarians know no Fatherland” hopes for a universal brotherhood were cherished. None the less, the old geo-political models survived and flourished under these new circumstances: the civilized Christian world was threatened by the Bolshevik barbarian or the Red Hordes from the East, while for the communists the capitalist world was “rotting” on the brink of the grave. In 1920s a new doctrine of Eurasianism claiming that Russia was neither Europe nor Asia but a world unto itself was developed mostly under the impulse of Russian emigration; this doctrine returned to life after the collapse of the Soviet Union with Russia seeking to redefine its place in world affairs. In the mid-1930s Soviet state rhetoric changed from an internationalist to a disguised imperialist one with strong nationalist connotations: the historical past of “Great Russia” was used to build a new national idea.
Reading:
Schimmelpenninck Van Der Oye, David. Russia's Asian Temptation, in: International Journal,
Vol. 55, No. 4 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 603-623. Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40203503
Shaw, Tony. Early Warnings of the Red Peril: A Pre-History of Cold War British Cinema, 1917-1939, in: Film History, Vol. 14, No. 3/4, War and Militarism (2002), pp. 354-368. Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/381543
Watching: “October” and “Alexander Nevsky” by Sergey Eisenshtein
Recommended further reading:
Laruelle, Marlène. Russian Eurasianism, An Ideology of Empire. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.
12. The Cold War and the Evil Empire
After a brief period during World War II when bitter enemies turned into allies, the ‘Cold War’ began and Europe was divided by an ‘iron curtain’. New formulas were created to describe old models: while on one side of the curtain world imperialism was expected to collapse, on the other side the threat of the 'Evil Empire' was conjured up.
Reading:
Wright, Patrick. Iron Curtain: From Stage to Cold War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007
Recommended further reading:
Foglesong, David S. The American Mission and the "Evil Empire": The Crusade for a "Free Russia" since 1881. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
13. Round-Table: Popular Culture and World Politics
Students choose examples of mass-culture texts (movies, series, video-games, etc.) and demonstrate their political connotations.
Reading: Battlestar Galactica and international relations: Popular culture and world politics / Eds.: Kiersey, Nicholas J. & Neumann, Iver B. Routledge, London, UK., 2013.
Watching: From Russia with Love (1963); Star Wars (1977, 1997); Battlestar Galactica (1978, 2003); Gorky Park (1983); Red Dawn (1984; 2012).
14. Exam-week. Papers due.
Evaluation
30% -- contribution to the first round-table
30% -- contribution to the second round-table
40% -- final paper