Is Russia Europe?

Eva PolonskaMonash European and EU Centre

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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

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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)

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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?

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Brought Europe into modern era

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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

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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

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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

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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”)

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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’

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Russia’s appetite for Asia

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Russian Empire by 1914

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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

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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

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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

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Running the state under communism

Dictatorial rules

Undemocratic tools of coercion / manipulation

Hostility towards pluralism

No civil society / suppressed freedoms

Corruption

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Post World War II

Soviet domination in CEE (1945 – 1989)

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Change is coming…

Throughout 1980s Mikhail Gorbachev:

I have a dream:

Common European Home

Glasnost Perestroika Demokratizatsiya

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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)

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1991 - Breakup of Soviet Union

New name: Russian Federation

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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?

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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

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‘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

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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

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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

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Who’s in charge?

Dmitry Medvedev (2008 - ) as President

Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister

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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

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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/

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