Transcript Cultural, ideological and psychological perceptions of the world

Cultural, ideological and psychological perceptions of
the world
---Mikhail Gorbachev
Liberal Perceptions
“As Russia enters the 2007-2008
elections cycle, there is no question
that it has a czarist political system,
in which all major decisions are
taken by one institution, the
presidency, also known as the
Kremlin. The separation of powers,
provided under the 1993
constitution, is a fiction… All
institutions of the federal
government, from the cabinet to the
bicameral legislature, are in reality
mere agents of the presidency.”
---Demitri Trenin, Getting Russia
Right, p. 9
Westernization Under Yeltsin
 - The Yeltsin government and
Westernization
 - Deputy Prime minister
Gaidar’s Shock Therapy
 - Foreign minister Kozyrev’s
version of Gorbachev’s ‘new
thinking’- “Determined to
liberate Russia from the burdens
of empire, the messianism, and
the overreliance on military
instruments that had
characterized both the tsarist
and Soviet periods” (Donaldson
and Nogee, P. 124)
 - Did the liberal (or rather ‘neoliberal’) project fail?
What happened?
 -Russia applied for NATO
membership, sought
friendship with the U.S. and
expressed interest in joining
the EU
 - The Gorbachev and Yeltsin
government made some
progress at establishing
multilateral linkages with the
West(i.e. joined in North
Atlantic Cooperation Council
in 1991, joined the IMF and
World Bank in 1992, became
the 8th member of the G7/G8)
 -
 - Trenin argues that this did
not amount to real
integration: it became a
“peripheral” partner of the
U.S. and E.U.
 - Russia disappeared as a
superpower and its ‘worldpower’ status became
precarious.
 - between 1993 and 1996
NATO expanded to include
Poland, the Czech Republic,
and Hungary
Lessons drawn by Russian Elites
According to Trenin, the following are
some lessons drawn by post-soviet
leaders:
 - The world is an interplay of
political interests
-”Western talk on democracy and
values is hollow and is used to put
American or European interests at
an advantage and Russia at a
disadvantage”
 - There are no universal values
“except for the survival of the
human race”
- - Mistrust of U.S. claims to good will
– every American promise must be
accompanied by concrete
concessions
 - military power is not longer the
overarching key to success –
economic, technological, cultural
influence are exceedingly important
 - international relations are about
competition and power
(bilateralism is crucial)
 - Russia must ultimately be an
independent power
- - Russia should prevent new
members of the E.U. from gaining
too much influence on the inside
that might damage Russia’s interests
– it should establish close
connections with those countries in
the EU (like Germany an France)
who have the strongest interests
inside Russia
- (Trenin, p. 75-76)
…continued
 2003 onward Russia began to
rebuild itself as a great power –
but its strength ceased to be a
factor of military might alone
 - While political liberalization,
economic liberalization was not
reversed
 - “what is good for Gazprom is
goof for Russia”
 Russia’s largest company
(world’s largest gas producer
and fourth-largest publically
traded company in the world
in 2006).
 - Elite perception of economic
liberalism was not reversed, but
rather changed direction
 - Eric Helleiner et al. has called
this trend ‘economic
nationalism,’ a political position
which does not preclude liberal
economic, but instead makes
use of market forces, global
integration, and globalization
more broadly to gain structural
power in the global economy
 - According to Maya Eichler
economic nationalism “allowed
the government to claim to be
defending the interests of the
Russian nation while continuing
Russia’s capitalist
transformation.” (in Helleiner
and Pickel, p. 79)
Public Opinion and Foreign Policy:
Hegemony or Global Citizenship?
According to the All-Russian
Center for the Study of Public
Opinion (VTsIOM) in 20012002 the majority of the
Russian populations rejects
the defining features of
Russia’s previous identity:
The Orthodox Church as the
State Religion, antiWesternism, expansionism
and ‘messianism.’ (Shevtsova,
in Motyl et al, p. 106.)
- a 2001 study revealed that
87% of those surveyed
believed that Russia should
move close to the countries of
the West (Shevtsova, p. 109)
 Shevtsova argues that it is not
the Russian public is not
ready for liberal democracy,
but the Russian elites, are
afraid to subordinate
themselves to the rule of law
and to function outside an
authoritarian system of
government
- Modernization and creation of
western institutions from the
top
…continued
 Parliamentary elections in 2004
revealed a ‘crisis’ in Russian
liberal democracy
 - Nevertheless, 50% of the
voters backed parties “with
strong statist and nationalist
bent (the Communist Party, the
Liberal Democracy Party of
Zherinovsky and Rodina
[motherland]).” – Shevtsova in
Russia’s Engagement with the
West, p. 110
 - the revival of the Russian
Orthodox church and its
accession to the political sphere
 - Putin appeals to nationalist
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votes
Putin’s choice:
- “to recreate in Russia the entire
system of Western institutions,
leaving out what it did not like
and what really mattered”
- instead of “definite rules of the
game and uncertain results,”
Russian elites opted for
“uncertain rules that can be
changed at will, and predictable,
certain results, guaranteeing
that they remain in power”
(Shevtsova, p. 111)
-
What kind of nationalism?
- - Astrid S. Tuminez argues that
-
-
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-
nationalism “has been a weak and
uneven force in Russia in general”
- when ‘aggressive nationalism’ did
shape Russian foreign policy it was
only to re-enforce its role as great
power
- “Russian rulers have never
successfully used nationalism as an
ideology to bind state and society in a
lasting way”
- hist0rically, expansionism had been
carried out as an instrument of
empire, rather than nation
(Martinez, p. 6)
- But, nationalism continues to
permeate not only the Communist
party of Russia, but Putin’s United
Russia as well
- a weak force in itself, it is
nonetheless a powerful political tool
Zhirinovski’s political campaign
poster from the recent election. He
leads the nationalist ‘Liberal
Democratic Party of Russia.’
What About the Communists?
Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the party:
 “The barbarian capitalism and rapacious
consumerism imposed by Americans
flagrantly contradicts Earth's nature, and the
Earth has started to take merciless revenge ...
with the savage hurricane that flooded New
Orleans and powerful fires. ... If we don't fight
capitalism, we will simply destroy the Earth
and die on this ship.“ - 2007
 - “The ideology, culture and global outlook of
the Western world are becoming more and
more influenced by the Jews scattered around
the world. Jewish influence grows not by the
day, but by the hour.” – 1995
 - source: The Moscow Times,
<http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2
007/10/12/002.html>
…the communists, continued
 The most popular party in the
Duma during the 1990s
 - in 1993 the Communist Party of
the Russian Federation (CPRF)
became the biggest and most
organized political party in
Russia
 - However, Luke March argues
(in Cameron Ross, p. 54), they
were stuck between existing as a
tough and irreconcilable
opposition to Yeltsin (i.e.
opposing the new system) and a
party with a coherent platform
an popular appeal within the
system
- however, it lacked the electoral
support of the majority of
Russia’s citizens
- - generational turnover has
always been a problem for the
communists
- - the ideological anticommunism of the Yeltsin years
is gone
- - United Russia has such a wide,
non-ideological appeal that the
communists are faced with an
electoral impasse
Putin: Geopolitics, Economic
Nationalism, Rebuilding the
 2007 Address to the Federal
Russian State
Assembly of the Russian
Federation
 “the absence of cultural beacons of
our own, and blindly copying
foreign models, will inevitably lead
to us losing our national identity…”
 “Having a unique cultural and
spiritual identity has never stopped
anyone from building a country
open to the world.”
 “Our foreign policy is aimed at joint,
pragmatic, and non-ideological
work to resolve the important
problems we face”
Putin Speech Continued…
 “It is my conviction that our
country will take its deserved
place in the world, and we
will be able to preserve our
statehood and our
sovereignty, only when our
citizens see and feel for
themselves and are confident
that all of the state's
endeavors aim at protecting
their vital interests, at
improving their lives and
bringing them greater
prosperity and security.”
Putin (left) and his preferred
successor , Medvedev (right).
Duma Election Results 2007
- Source: Central
Election Commission of the Russian Federation,
<http://www.cikrf.ru/eng/elect_duma/results/index.jsp>
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All-Russian Political Party “United Russia” - 64,1 %
Political Party “Communist Party of the Russian Federation” - 11,6 %
Political Party “Liberal- Democratic party”- 8,2 %
Political Party Fair Russia: Motherland, Pensioners, Life - 7,8 %
Political Party “Agrarian Party of Russia” - 2,3 %
Political Party “Russian United Democratic Party ’YABLOKO’” - 1,6 %
All-Russia Political Party “Civil Force” - 1,1 %
Political Party “UNION OF RIGHTIST FORCES” - 1,0 %
“PATRIOTS OF RUSSIA” - 0,9 %
Political Party “Party of Social Justice” - 0,2 %
Democratic Party of Russia - 0,1 %
 Questions to keep in mind:
 Why did the liberals do so poorly?
 Where were the moderates?
Questions for Discussion:
 Demitri Trenin states that “Russians need to see that
Western values are not only a big stick that editorial writers
carry about, but also a real measure of societal progress.
They need to see that while the foundation of Russia’s
foreign policy (i.e. real and mostly private economic
interests) has been established, this policy lacks a spine,
which only deeply held values can form.” (Trenin, P. 96)
 Do you agree with Trenin? Does Russian foreign policy
lack values? Or is there something else wrong with its
leaders' perceptions of the world?
 Does Russia need to adapt Western values?
Bibliography:
Eichler Maya. “Explaining Postcommunist Transformations: Economic Nationalism in
Ukraine and Russia.” in Economic Nationalism in a Globalizing World, edited by Eric
Helleiner and Andreas Pickel, pp. 69-87 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005).
Shevtsova, Lillia. “Political Leadership in Russia’s Transformation.” In Russia’s Engagement
with the West: Transformation and Integration in the Twenty-First Century, edited by
Alexander J. Motyl, Blair A. Ruble, and Lilia Shevtsova, pp. 99-120. New York: M.E.
Sharpe, 2005.
Trenin, Demitri V. Getting Russia Right. Washington: Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, 2007.
Donaldson, Robert H, and Joseph L. Nogee. The Foreign Policy of Russia: Changing Systems,
Enduring Interests. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2005.
Tuminez, Astrid S. Russian Nationalism Since 1865: Ideology and the Making of Foreign
Policy. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.
March, Luke. “The Putin Paradigm and the Cowering of Russia’s Communists.” In Russian
Politics Under Putin, edited by Cameron Ross, pp. 53-75. New York: Manchester
University Press 2004.
Putin, Vladimir, “Our foreign Policy is aimed at joint, pragmatic, and non-ideological work
to resolve the important problems we face.” International Affairs 53, no. 3 (2007).