2
Russia today: Российская Федерация
World’s largest political entity
11 time zones
Twice as large as United States or China
Population - 141,000,000 - much of land empty
China - 1.3 billion, India - 900,000,000
Population concentrated in European Russia
3
Lecture outline
Russia’s history:
What in common with Europe in the past?
Russia today:
What in common with Europe now? Politics / Economy / Culture
Is Russia Europe?
Tereza Vorlova: Putin’s Russia
European ideas back in 18th C
‘The laws should be made for everyone not for one person’ (Diderot,
1755)
‘I may not agree with your ideas but will defend with my life your right to express them’ (Voltaire)
‘I am a man first and I’m French only by accident’
(Montesquieu)
4
Widely spread ideas:
Individualism Equal / Natural rights
UniversalismReason
European ideas back in 18th C
Emergence of modern sciences / secular knowledge Industrial revolution Economic liberalism Political change / Democratic sovereignty
Does Russia embark on the modern project?
5
Brought Europe into modern era
6
Russian EmpireРоссийская Империя (1721 – 1917)
Second largest contiguous empire:
by 1866: eastern Europe, across Asia, into N. America
British Empire its only rival
One of the last absolute monarchies left in Europe
One of the five major Great Powers of Europe
7
Russia and European Empires
Russia as one of the Great Powers
Alliances with Western Powers
Cultural flow with Europe:
Architecture Literature Music
Peterhoff Palace, St. PetersburgHome to Russian Tsars
8
Russian input in European culture
Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) The greatest Russian poet / founder of modern
Russian literature Eugene Onegin
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) Writer, one of the greatest psychologists in world
literature Crime and Punishment
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) Famous for his plays and short stories The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Novelist and philosopher War and Peace and Anna Karenina
9
Russian input in European culture
‘The Nutcracker’ by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Amber Room Joint effort of Germany and RussiaLooted by Nazis in WW2
What about the flow of political & economic ideas?
Russia and Europe in 18th C
Seeming contradiction:
The “Western” model of Enlightenment: Liberal implications of key Enlightenment ideas, e.g.
Autonomous individual Human rights as essential qualities of human beings Linked to the rise of vibrant middle class
Vs.:
The “Eastern” model of Enlightenment: Absolutist monarchical rule (“enlightened
despotism”)
10
Enlightened despotism
Scared of unintended consequences:
Broadening the base of education and expanding the service bureaucracy Creation of new and self-confident educated elites Capable of transformation into intelligentsias critical of absolutist power
The rhetoric of Enlightenment:
Monarchs eager to be considered enlightened Needed to legitimate their rule by claims to promote welfare of population Sometimes supported by real reforms: serfdom abolished, dignity of labour, land to peasants, encouraged industry, promoted canal and highway construction
11
12
Russia and Europe
Peter the Great (1682-1725)
Policy objective: emulation of Western Europe
Symbolic westernisation (compulsory Western clothes; no beards)
Moves capital to St. Petersburg (Petrograd)
in the most western part of the country, accessible to the rest of Europe by sea
Russian enlightenment: scratch on the surface
Emulation of French Enlightenment culture:
French became the language of polite society
Fashion for Voltaire and his style of freethinking scepticism
Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765):
Natural scientist, grammarian, poet
Helped set up Moscow University in 1755
The breadth of his contribution was a tribute to him, but also a symptom of the narrow base of Russian Enlightenment in the 18th C
13
Russia and Europe
Tsarina Catherine the Great
(1762 – 1796)
Personally knew Montesquieu, Voltaire, Jeremy Bentham, Diderot
Claimed to rule for the greatest good, but:
Increased serfdom Brutally crushed peasants rebellion Left no legacy of reform
14
Opposition to despotism
Alexander Radishchev, Journey from St Petersburg to
Moscow (1790):
A critique of serfdom one year after the French Revolution
Catherine II ordered all copies of the text destroyed
Sentenced to death, a verdict commuted to exile in Siberia
Ultimately released in 1797 by Catherine’s successor, Paul
15
16
Russia and European Imperialism
Aggressive competition for territories
To gain markets / resources
To gain space for home population
To prevent rival powers from expansion
Russia NOT part of ‘Scramble for Africa’
Berlin Conference (1884-85)‘Congo Conference’
19
Russian Empire and Europe Russia must be modernized at all costs
Program of industrialization
Russian empire had the technology of factories
Increased economic advancement But also disillusionment with corruption
Large landmass:
Industrialization also needed railroads Trans-Siberian Railroad
Failure of Tsarist Russia to keep up with the West
20
End of Russian Empire
Nicholas Alexandrovich II
Russia weakened by defeat with Japan (1905) & WWI
Numerous groups oppose tsar and imperial Russia
Bolshevik Revolution 1917
Tsar & family executed
21
Another Empire? Eventually Bolsheviks take over – October 1917
Russian civil war - 1917-1924
Josef Stalin – The "Red Tsar“
Soviet Union (1924-1953) to transform Russia through:
Collectivization Industrialization
Famine Purges: 60 m dead (Stalin: ‘The Butcher’)
Result: Politically & economically Russia moves away from Europe
22
Running the state under communism
Dictatorial rules
Undemocratic tools of coercion / manipulation
Hostility towards pluralism
No civil society / suppressed freedoms
Corruption
24
Change is coming…
Throughout 1980s Mikhail Gorbachev:
I have a dream:
Common European Home
Glasnost Perestroika Demokratizatsiya
25
Losing control…
Coup against Gorbachev (18 August 1991)
Gorbi held in Crimea Boris Yeltsin confronts rebellion Speech from the turret of a tank
Gorbachev restored but powers compromised Elections to come: Yeltsin as first President of Russia (not
Soviet Union)
27
New challenges after 1991
Commitment to Democracy:
Free elections / democratic institutions / democratic policy making
Rule of law / human rights (e.g. freedom of speech / media freedoms)
Commitment to economic reforms: Market economy / free competition Private ownership Economic growth
Ban on communist party
New convergence with Europe?
28
Political changes under Yeltsin
Yeltsin’s conflicts with Parliament:
Parliament dismissed in 1993 More powers to the President Legislature no control over
government Failure of judiciary to oversee
laws
29
‘Shock therapy’ under Yeltsin
Huge resources to privatize
No experts / capital /tested body of law
Communist elites as immediate beneficiaries
No middle class (government officials as business sector)
Oligarchy: high concentration of ownership
Manipulation / corruption commonplace in new private sector
Mafia & violence at work Small & medium businesses eliminated
Russia after reforms
Oligarchs and politics:
Unprecedented accumulation of wealth Corruption / ‘influences’ over policy-making Support for Yeltsin despite low popularity
Results different from expected:
Damaged political / economic life
Yeltsin resigns in 2000
31
Russia under Putin (2000 – 2008)
Order back on agenda
Determined to reduce violence Security agents to handle economic &
political life Harassment by police and tax
authorities
Further reduction of electoral competition
Parties come and go Control over media No serious politician able to run against
Putin
Increased economic growth but state more interfering
32
Running the Russian state
Transition to capitalist democracy possible when:
Powers delegated from the centre to local agencies
REALITY:
Expansion of Moscow’s control over republics Consolidation of personal power Corruption rules Federation:
Territorial administration concentrated in Moscow Autonomous republics with no regional powers
Putin re-writes constitution to become PM
34
Russia: European or not?
European Union:
Post-national
Multilateral / Non-state centric
Focuses less on borders
Overcoming of power politics by focusing on peace process
Russia:
Realpolitik (projection of power)
Centrality of national interests
(Using energy as a bargaining tool)
Territorial demarcation
Space for maximizing power
35
To sum up Historically huge contribution to European tradition
(of what?)
Russia still struggling to adapt to loss of Soviet empire / superpower status
People consider themselves ‘European’
Drop in popular faith in democracy and market economy
Economic growth under Putin but:
Politics centres on the Kremlin Questionable parliamentary control or independent judiciary
Corruption
So: European or not?
The East Asia ForumRussia-US power play & the role of Russia in
contemporary politics
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/07/24/russia-between-the-us-and-china-2/
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/03/06/russia-looks-to-the-pacific-in-2012/
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/09/03/has-russia-reinvented-apec-as-well-as-its-asia-pacific-posture/
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/11/12/europes-pivot-to-asia/
36