The Postcolonial Nature of the Post-Soviet Space: a reading of the cultural condition of Albania

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-385
Author(s):  
Soham Mukherjee ◽  
Madhumita Roy
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
Soviet Ideology ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Post Soviet Space

Postcolonialism has always concerned itself with the conditions in former colonies of European maritime empires. However, based on current frameworks defining imperialism and the post-colonial condition, the erstwhile Soviet Union could be classified as a colonial power. Its aggressive annexation of nations and paranoid control of information and education systems are reflective of colonial practices. Nevertheless, the Eurocentrism inherent in the culture of its former members prevents them from acknowledging their postcoloniality. Albania is one such nation. Not only was it a province of the Ottoman Empire for centuries but also a satellite state of the Soviet Union. Although Albania broke away from the USSR in the 1960s, it remained under the aegis of Soviet ideology as its nationalist dictator Enver Hoxha was a staunch Stalinist. This created unique cultural conditions which eminent Albanian writers like Ismail Kadare could not help but represent in their works. The post-Soviet space, including Albania, shows a number of symptoms of postcoloniality which are a direct consequence of Soviet imperialism. This paper will explore the postcoloniality of the post-Soviet space and analyse its symptoms in Stalinist Albania. In this context, it will also briefly examine the orientalist frameworks often employed by the West in its dealings with the ambiguous Europeanness of East and Central European nations.

Overcoming Barriers to Cooperation: Territorial and Issue Neutralization as Tools of Conflict Management

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-149
Author(s):  
Michael O. Slobodchikoff
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Conflict Management ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Design Feature ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cooperative Relationships ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Post Soviet Space

This article investigates how states can begin to cooperate and form bilateral relationships given severe barriers to cooperation. Certain issues can prevent cooperation from occurring despite strategic interests in doing so by both states. However, if states agree to use the institutional design feature of territorial or issue neutralization, then conflict can be averted even if some of the major hindrances to cooperation remains unresolved. I examine in greater detail how both territorial and issue neutralization are used as institutional designs feature in building a cooperative bilateral relationship. Through two major case studies, the self-imposed territorial neutralization of Finland in its relations with the Soviet Union as well as issue neutralization in the relationship between Russia and Ukraine following the collapse of the Soviet Union, I am able to show that territorial and issue neutralization may be effective tools for resolving conflict in the post-Soviet space and could create cooperative relationships instead of conflictual ones.

scholarly journals One for all, each on its own: Analysing the post-Soviet system of collective security

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-110
Author(s):  
David Erkomaishvili
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
Collective Security ◽  
Subsequent Transformation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Security Relations ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
Post Soviet Space

The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 allowed independent states, which emerged in its place, to construct their own alignments. The choice of the case for empirical analysis had been made based on several unique characteristics. Orthodox Alliance Theory had almost never properly addressed alignments in the post-Soviet space due to the lack of access to information during the Soviet period - along with the structure of the state: only Soviet alignment policies were taken into consideration, instead of those of its constituent republics as well - and modest interest of alliance theorists in the region. Continued disintegration of the post-Soviet space, which has not stopped with the collapse of the Soviet Union but keeps fragmenting further, creates a unique setting for researching the adequacy of Alliance Theory's classic assumptions as well as developing new approaches. This work traces the development of the post-Soviet system of collective security and its subsequent transformation into a series of bilateral security relations, along with the shortfall of multilateralism.

Out of Empire into Socialist Modernity

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-70
Author(s):  
Steffi Marung
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIn this article the Soviet-African Modern is presented through an intellectual history of exchanges in a triangular geography, outspreading from Moscow to Paris to Port of Spain and Accra. In this geography, postcolonial conditions in Eastern Europe and Africa became interconnected. This shared postcolonial space extended from the Soviet South to Africa. The glue for the transregional imagination was an engagement with the topos of backwardness. For many of the participants in the debate, the Soviet past was the African present. Focusing on the 1960s and 1970s, three connected perspectives on the relationship between Soviet and African paths to modernity are presented: First, Soviet and Russian scholars interpreting the domestic (post)colonial condition; second, African academics revisiting the Soviet Union as a model for development; and finally, transatlantic intellectuals connecting postcolonial narratives with socialist ones. Drawing on Russian archives, the article furthermore demonstrates that Soviet repositories hold complementary records for African histories.

Religious vs secular nationhood: ‘Multiple secularities’ in post-Soviet Armenia

2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Burchardt ◽  
Hovhannes Hovhannisyan
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Religious Change ◽  
Religious Nationalism ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Caucasus Region ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
Multiple Secularities ◽  
Cultural Defense ◽  
Post Soviet Space

This article draws on the notion of ‘cultural defense’ to examine how nationalism shapes contemporary contestations around religion and secularity in Armenia. While clearly relevant, this framework has rarely been used for the analysis of religious change in the Caucasus region as part of the broader post-Soviet space. This article fills this lacuna. Simultaneously, it moves beyond the relatively narrow interest in the degree of secularization or reinforced religious nationalism as social outcomes of cultural defense situations. Instead, we are interested in how boundaries between religion and secular spheres in society are drawn in particular ways, how the resulting religious – secular configurations have evolved since the end of the Soviet Union – of which Armenia was a part – and how concepts of nationhood and nationalist mobilizations have shaped this process.

scholarly journals Post-Soviet Heritages in the Making

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1080-1088
Author(s):  
Gertjan Plets
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Special Collection ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
Sphere Of Influence ◽  
Made In ◽  
Post Soviet Space

Despite the growing interest in post-Soviet space (the countries formerly located in the Soviet Union or its sphere of influence) in the field of memory studies, researchers have only just begun to the study how ‘things and practices’ from the past are mobilized, institutionalized and repackaged in this particular part of the world. This special collection explores how heritage is being made in a highly diverse and multicultural space where Soviet modernist conceptions of culture and identity interact with local deeply rooted attitudes as well as post-Soviet economic and political challenges.

scholarly journals Russia’s Soft Power as a Limited Efficiency Tool in Lithuania

Politologija ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-97
Author(s):  
Giedrius Česnakas ◽  
Vytautas Isoda
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Demographic Trends ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
The Past ◽  
Hard Power ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
Article Abstract ◽  
Post Soviet Space

[full article, abstract in English; abstract in Lithuanian] Lithuania has been a target of Russia’s soft power efforts for the past two decades. The aim of this article is to analyse Russia’s soft power influence possibilities in Lithuania. First, it analyzes how soft power is interpreted in Russia compared to the Western conception. Then, Russia’s soft power instruments and their core goals are reviewed, not all of which fall under the category of “soft power instruments” according to the Western understanding. The article proceeds with demographic changes in Lithuania and trends of consumption of Russian culture and information in Lithuania. The main argument is that Russia is not aiming to apply soft power to the general Lithuanian society but to particular groups within the population (Russophone minorities and residents with sentiments for the Soviet Union). It can be assumed that demographic trends and Russia’s aggressive actions will increasingly limit its soft power capabilities. However, the greatest setback to Russia’s soft power in Lithuania is arguably caused by its continuing reliance on hard power when it comes to countries of the post-Soviet space.

The Commonwealth of Independent States: an example of failed regionalism?

2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (S1) ◽  
pp. 237-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL KUBICEK
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Commonwealth Of Independent States ◽  
Soviet State ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
In Cis ◽  
Domestic Level ◽  
Post Soviet Space

AbstractThe Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was designed to manage the collapse of the Soviet Union and foster post-Soviet cooperation in political, economic, and security spheres. Over a decade into its existence, most analysts would rate it a failure: many post-Soviet states do not participate in CIS ventures, the institutional machinery of the CIS is weak, and Russia, the most dominant post-Soviet state, has tended to favour bi-lateral relationships over multi-lateral institutions. Why is this the case? This article looks at the CIS through the prism of theories of regionalism, demonstrating that the CIS was handicapped on many fronts, including emergent multi-polarity in the post-Soviet space and domestic-level political considerations in many post-Soviet states.

Main trends in transformation of Central Asian macroregion ethnic space from 1897 to 2017

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-64
Author(s):  
A.G. Manakov
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
The North ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
Population Counts

The main trends in the ethnic transformation of the post-Soviet space were set long before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The most striking example of this is the process of ethnic transformation in the macroregion, including the territory of the young states of Central Asia (Kazakhstan and the republics of Middle Asia). The aim of the study is to identify the main trends in the transformation of the ethnic space of the Central Asian macroregion over a 120-year interval. For this, a set of ethnic indicators (ethnic mosaic, homogeneity, concentration, etc.) were used, calculated according to the results of censuses and population counts, as well as the methods which have been created in Russian cultural geography. As a part of the study period, two stages were distinguished, characterized by directly opposite trends in the transformation of the ethnic space of the macroregion. The first stage lasted until the end of the 1950s. It was characterized by a decrease in the share of the titular nations of the republics as a result of a significant migration influx of the population from outside the macroregion, which led to an increase in the degree of multi-ethnicity of the territory. Since the 1960s an increase in the share of the titular nations of the republics began, which was a consequence of the demographic explosion of the indigenous population and the migration outflow of non-titular peoples of the republics, and the concentration of titular ethnic groups within their republics increased. The most significant ethnic restructuring throughout the period was experienced by Kazakhstan and the North of Kyrgyzstan. In the second stage the ethnic structure of the population has undergone a radical transformation of all large cities in the macroregion underwent.

scholarly journals Integration processes in the post-Soviet space: achievements and problems

Polylogos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (№ 4 (18)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Artur Avakov
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Eastern Partnership ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Post Soviet Space

The article is devoted to the most famous integration organizations and programs in the post-Soviet space: CIS, CSTO, EAEU, GUAM, Union State of Belarus and Russia, Eastern Partnership. The work analyzes the stages of their formation, achievements and problems. For this, a systematic approach, a method of critical analysis, comparative historical and other scientific methods of cognition were used. Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, political, economic and cultural ties between the new republics were preserved. After the USSR ceased to exist, a demand arose in the states of the post-Soviet space for new legal mechanisms and organizational formalization of these ties. The coexistence and struggle of various interests in the post-Soviet space predetermined a number of features in the emergence and functioning of integration projects.  

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