Decolonizing Putin's Russia Midterm

What is the main form of political legitimacy in Russia? What others have existed?

Main is charismatic

Attempts have been made at traditional (hereditary) or legal-rational

What purpose do wars serve in establishing political legitimacy?

Show that leader is powerful/charismatic enough to win and therefore rule.

What is the purpose of Putin showing Tucker Carlson historical documents?

Establish traditional legitimacy

Who writes about decentering a “Great Russian” narrative?

Juliet Johnson

Why is “post-soviet” a bad term?

Obscures details and implies similarities that may no longer exist

What is Benedict Anderson’s definition of a nation?

Socially constructed community of citizens who see themselves as part of a larger group

How does nationalism relate to the concepts of divine right and hereditary monarchy?

Fights those concepts

Does Benedict Anderson think that nations are based on historical bloodline or language?

NO

What are the three elements of a nation, according to Benedict Anderson?

Horizontal Community, Popular Sovereignty, Limited borders/power

According to Michael Doyle and Nancy Condee, what is an empire?

Hierarchical system with inequality, measures in place to sustain system of differences between groups

Do empires have limits?

No

Historically, how have empires established their legitimacy?

Divine right or hereditary tradition

What is the dormition cathedral?

Where czars had their coronation ceremonies, also where Putin’s inauguration is held.

Who is Nikita Mikhalkov’s great-grandfather? Why is he important?

Vasily Surikov, Siberian Painter, painted “Yermak Conquest of Siberia”

Painting legitimizes the Russian colonizing of Siberia by depicting the Cossack colonists with a flag portraying Jesus’s face

What is Terry Martin describing when he talks about the “Affirmative Action Empire?”

Soviet National Policy that supported minorities over the majority and replaced the nation-state with republics

What were the 4 principles of soviet affirmative action policy?

1. educating local elites

2. creating national autonomies

3. promoting national cultural identities

4. greater danger principle (downplaying role of former colonial master nation)

How did the republics form in the USSR?

Communist party took over typical nation forming process to guide things in the direction they wanted (soviet international nations that would accept central soviet power)

What principle of soviet affirmative action did Stalin get rid of?

Greater danger principle (this lead to the dissolution of the USSR, according to Martin)

What is the point of Barber of Siberia?

Imperial nostalgia, glamorizes the period of Alexander III (played by Nikita Mikhalkov himself)

Emphasis of military power, male fraternity, and divine presence in Russia.

Presents the west as corrupt and degenerate

Who directed The Inner Circle? What is the point of the film?

Andrei Konchalovsky

Film is anti-stalinist (somewhat satirical depiction of Stalin’s personal projectionist)

Still sacrilizes russian power (stalin is depicted as supernatural. Women (i.e. Ivan’s wife) can only have power, and supernatural power at that, once they are dead)

Who directed Taras Bulba? What is the point of the film?

Vladimir Bortko

Erases Ukraine as a nation, depicts Cossacks as being Russian for all of history

Who directed Andrei Rublev? Why is it important?

Andrei Tarkovskii

This was a soviet era film made with funding from the state, even though the director was ideologically opposed to the state

Finland

Uralic family

Finnish Language

Protestant

Estonia

Uralic family

Esotnian Language

Protestant

Latvia

Baltic family

Latvian Language

Protestant

Lithuania

Baltic family

Lithuanian language

Roman Catholic

Poland

Slavic family

Polish language

Roman Catholic

Belarus

Slavic family

Belarussian/russian language

Orthodox

Ukraine

slavic family

ukranian language

orthodox

Moldova

Romance family

romanian language

eastern orthodox

Georgia

Unique language

Georgian language

orthodox

armenia

unique language

armenian

christian

Azerbaijan

Turkic family

azerbaijani

Muslim

turkmenistan

turkic family

turkmen

muslim

uzbekistan

turkic family

uzbek

muslim

kazakhstan

turkic family

kazakh/russian

muslim

kyrgyzstan

turkic

russian kyrgyz

muslim

tajikstan

farsi family

tajiki

muslim

2014 events of the year

Euromaidan / Revolution of dignity

Annexation of Crimea

2009 event of the year

Anti-corruption lawyer Magnitsky is murdered in Moscow prison

2000 event of the year

Putin elected president of Russia

1999 events of the year

apartment bombings, second war in chechnya

1991 event of the year

dissolution of the USSR

2014 words of the year

Russian imperialist memes:

Krymnash (“Crimea is ours”)

Russky Mir (“Russian world”)

Novorossia (occupied region of ukraine by russia)

2009 word of the year

perezagruska (reset)

2000 word of the year

“vertical of power”

1999 word of the year

"Ryazan sugar”

1991 word of the year

New Russians