Imperial Russia at the Turn of the Century

The expansion of Europe has been a much-discussed process. Unfortunately the publicists' and historians' interest has commonly been limited to surface aspects of power, to political, economic, and intellectual penetration. Yet a closer acquaintance reveals the existence of a yet deeper layer of hostile infiltration, a subtler and more subversive onslaught on native values and traditions. The 'underground' portions of western expansion have hitherto rather escaped notice, let alone analysis, although among their victims their force was felt deeply if confusedly. Thus an anonymous journalist writing in Russia late in 1896 pointed to that melting away of native guideposts under the western impact when he lamented that 'under the influence of historical conditions and progress many phenomena which distinguished Russian nationality are now changing and therefore prove no longer to be genuine and unchangeable...' No hallowed custom, no authority remained unimpaired, even though the surface structure of society and government was preserved and the sovereignty of the state untouched. The termites of western influence were eating away the substance and left only facades. And the invisible portion of western power, its ability to serve as a universal model, proved in the long run even more devastating than armies, battleships, or stocks and bonds

Nationality · Notice · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · Sovereignty · State (computer science) · History · Law · Soviet and Russian History

• Relative backwardness and cumulative change

  Open Access•Frederick Stirton Weaver•Studies in Comparative…•1974

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• The Circulation of Secularism

  Open Access•Greg Urban•International Journal of Politics…•2008

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