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Nationalism and Globalization in the Russian Federation at the Millennium 319© 2000 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore Art thou not, my Russia, soaring along even like a spirited, never-tobe -outdistanced troika?....Whither art thou soaring away to, then, Russia? Give me thy answer! But Russia gives none. With a wondrous ring does the jingle-bell trill; the air rent to shreds, thunders and turns to wind; all things on earth fly past and, eyeing it askance, all the other peoples and nations stand aside and give it the right of way. — Nikolai Gogol, The Dead Souls Introduction Examining nationalism within the post-Soviet Russian Federation in the context of an increasingly globalized world is a complex task, given the propensity of the various historical forms of the Russian state to resist inclusion in the prevalent socio-economic, artistic, and political PanEu ropean tren ds. Th u s, Ru ssia n ever experien ced th e im pact of Renaissance or Protestant Reformation,1 while its embrace of the Age of Reason had been ambivalent in its nature, and limited in scope. Both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, in spite of their universalistic and Messianic impulses, functioned within the context of a highly isolationist autarkic political culture. That globalization has indeed emerged as a factor in the post-communist Russian state is, nevertheless, beyond reasonable denial. Russia had first confronted aspects of 319 m n Nationalism and Globalization in the Russian Federation at the Millennium FRANK CIBULKA 12 ISEAS DOCUMENT DELIVERY SERVICE. No reproduction without permission of the publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, SINGAPORE 119614. FAX: (65)7756259; TEL: (65) 8702447; E-MAIL: publish@iseas.edu.sg 320 Frank Cibulka© 2000 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore modernity in the late seventeenth century through the reforms of Peter th e Great an d was fu n dam en tally tran sform ed by th e Marxist mobilization model of socio-economic modernization thrust upon the Soviet empire by Joseph Stalin during the 1920s and 1930s. Mikhail Gorbachev’s reform policy of glasnost exposed his country to the Information Age, while the set of policies collectively known as perestroika marked a decisive departure from traditional Russian autarky through seeking Western aid from such global institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Following the failure of Gorbachev’s attempt to fuse socialism with reinvigorating elements of capitalism, a highly flawed and predatory form of capitalism emerged in Russia, fostering nevertheless its integration into the global economy. Th is ch apter will exam in e th e tradition al sou rces an d cu rren t manifestations of nationalism in contemporary Russian Federation, and then explore the degree and nature of interaction between globalization and various forms of ethnic nationalism flourishing on the Eurasian continent. The sweep of Russian history from its origins in the Kievan Rus state more than one thousand years ago, through the Mongol conquest in the thirteenth century and the period of Appanage Russia, the rise of Muscovy and the Russian Empire to the Bolshevik revolution, and the Soviet Union constructed upon Marxist-Leninist ideology, betrays a strong common thread of civilizational continuity provided for by a remarkable persistence of Great Russian ethnic domination and largely unchanging political culture. The international relations supernova which twinned the disintegration of the Soviet Union with the demise of European communism resulted in a sudden break-up of the Soviet Empire and the addition of fifteen sovereign states to the international community. In the case of the Russian Federation, which assumed many of the privileges and obligations of a de facto successor state to the Soviet Union,2 the fundamental question which arose was whether the seemingly resurgent Russia, newly emerged from its opaque Soviet shell, would constitute a case of transformation of a large empire into a smaller empire or, as one might hope, of change from an empire to a multicultural state. It will not be the purpose of this chapter to examine the entire spectrum of the nationalism of the various former Soviet republics, such as the Baltic states, Georgia, or Turkmenistan, but to assess the manifestations of nationalism of both majority and variable minority ethnic groups within the Russian Federation, as well as to examine the nationality policy of the Russian state under President Boris Yeltsin, in order to relate them collectively to the globalization process. [3.147.65.65] Project MUSE (2024-04-26...

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