Smuta

Cyclical visions of history in contemporary Russian thought and the question of hegemony

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12190842
AutoresKåre Johan Mjør (0000-0002-3296-8214, Uppsala University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2018
Volumen70
Número1
Páginas19-40
Fecha de publicación2018-01-22
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaStudies in East European Thought (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0925-9392 • E-ISSN: 1573-0948
EditorialSpringer Nature (PUBLISHER • SG)
DOI10.1007/s11212-018-9298-0
OpenAlexW2785102952
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas17

In the post-Soviet context, various cyclical models of recurrent Russian “Times of Troubles” (smuty) have become increasingly popular. This perspective emerged first in Soviet dissident circles (Alexander Yanov, Aleksandr Akhiezer), who used it as a means to expose as mistaken the Soviet belief in continual historical progress on Russian soil. In post-Soviet Russia this critical approach has been continued by members of the “Akhezier circle,” the economist Egor Gaidar, and others. Meanwhile it was given an affirmative, conservative reinterpretation by Aleksandr Panarin, according to whom Russia has always managed to overcome its phases of devastating Westernization and state collapse. This idea of Russian history has become influential; even Vladimir Putin has talked about Russia as a strong state able to survive various “Times of Troubles” from the early seventeenth century to the early post-Soviet period. It also figures prominently among members of the neoconservative Izborsk Club. This article analyzes different conceptions of Russian history as cyclical and their prominent place in the prevailing civilizational discourse of post-Soviet Russia. By means of postcolonial perspectives, this discourse is seen on the one hand as an attempt to question and reject Western hegemony, attempts that on the other hand nevertheless seem unable to liberate themselves from a normative dependence on the West

Aesthetics · Context (archaeology · Economic history · Eurocentrism · Hegemony · Literature · Modernization theory · Normative · Period (music · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Reinterpretation · Russian culture · Russian history · Sociology · State (computer science · Vision · Westernization · Anthropology · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · History · Law · Philosophy · Russia and Soviet political economy · Soviet and Russian History