Decolonizing Russia? : Disentangling Debates

Description

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 radically changed the way many viewed the nature of the Russian state. The centrality of resentment and imperial nostalgia in Russian narratives led many to argue that Russian imperialism was a key force behind the invasion. By extension, this led to the idea that decolonization – largely in scholarship, but also among some policy circles – offered a way of better understanding Russia in this new context. To this end, this Element examines the debates over decolonization in the Russian case. It begins by contextualizing these debates through an examination of Russia’s historical development as an empire. It then identifies and disentangles three key focal points: decolonization as domestic Russian politics, the transnational politics of decolonization, and decolonization as a scholarly endeavor. By doing so, this Element shows where decolonization has merit, but also where it is contested or limited. Cover Title page Copyright page Decolonizing Russia?: Disentangling Debates Contents Introduction Contested Terminologies Definitions in Tension: The Russian Context About This Element 1 Identity and Empire in Russian History Patterns of Empire-Building (1552–1917) Layered Identities and Loyalties Conclusion 2 The Soviet Rule: Decolonial in Form, Colonial in Content? Population Territory Conclusion 3 Post-Socialist Transition: Decolonization and Recolonization Perestroika: Top–Down and Bottom–Up Transformations The Collapse of the Soviet Union and Subsequent Decolonization Neoliberal Economic Reforms Russia’s Decentralization and Recentralization Russia’s Post-Imperial Projection at Home and Abroad The Polysemy of Grassroots Decolonization Claims Conclusion 4 Decolonization and Its International Dimension Decolonization: A Longtime Battlefield for Competition between the USA and Russia Russia’s Branding as an Anticolonial Power European Memory Wars and Russia’s Imperial/Colonial Past The New Activism of “Dismantling Russia” Performing Symbolic Politics Conclusion 5 Decolonization as Scholarship Russian’s (Self-)Orientalism The Notion of Eurasia: Global History and Imperiality Debating the Coloniality of the Soviet Experience Race, Racialism, Racism Religion as Decolonization Exploring the Post-Soviet Global Coloniality and Academic Ghettoization Moving Forward Conclusion Conclusion Acknowledgements