NATION- AND STATE-BUILDING IN RUSSIA
(882-1914)
Supervisor: Sjoerd Willen
Victor Cebotari ID 6026184
Pigeonhole 958
Date: 14-12-2010
Bloody Diversity: Country File
Final Version
5085 words
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction...................................................................................... 1
Plurality of politics in Kievan Rus'................................................... 3
Emergence of Muscovy in the 16th century....................................... 4
Absolutism in 18th century Russia..................................................... 6
Reform, reaction, and reform............................................................ 8
Nation and state................................................................................. 10
Conclusions........................................................................................ 11
INTRODUCTION
Since the Cold War has past, Eastern Europe and Western Europe are moving closer to each other.
The question whether Russia is a European nation increasingly sparkes fierce controversy amongst scholars and politicians. What experiences did Russia share with Europe and what experiences did it not share with Europe? Answers are possibly hidden in the various episodes of the Russian nation building process.
Historians tend to look at the middle ages in order to trace the origins of the present-day nation-states. However, according to the standards set by Roberts (1979, p.
32, in: Hall, 1984, p. 1), there was no state in the middle ages. Roberts defines the state as a political entity which wields supreme authority over a defined territory and has the power to make and to enforce decisions, and to maintain order within its defined territory. Because of lack of infrastructure and state-bureaucracy, kings were dependent on the feudal system in order to exercise power. This caused the existence of a certain plurality of political powers which is highly illustrative for the early-medieval proto-states (Gill, 2003, pp. 72-80). The first section investigates the characteristics of political plurality in the earliest statist entity in Russian history: Kievan Rus'. Was there a feudal system in Kievan Rus'? If not, what caused the political parcellisation that was inherent to medieval 'Russia' ?
According to Opello & Rosow (1999, pp. 47-77), between 1100 and 1500 several feudal...