| MARCH 12, 2023 | VIEW IN BROWSER | |
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“Russia’s nature as an imperial power is incontrovertible,”Artem Shaipov and Yuliia Shaipova write. “So why has this fundamental, foundational fact about Russia been all but ignored in the West for so long, including among those who study and analyze the region?” Shaipov and Shaipova suggest that the answer lies in the way Russian studies is taught in the West. But regardless of the reason, the war in Ukraine has sparked a newfound awareness of Russia’s imperial project, past and present. The essays below explore the nature of Russian imperialism and its relationship to the country’s latest war of conquest.—Chloe Hadavas What the Fall of Empires Tells Us About the Ukraine WarRussia’s war can only be understood as a bloody post-imperial conflict. From Pushkin to Putin: Russian Literature’s Imperial Ideology Russian classical literature, chock full of dehumanizing nationalism, reads disturbingly familiar today. It’s High Time to Decolonize Western Russia Studies Why has it taken a war of conquest for experts to recognize Russia’s nature as a vast imperial enterprise? Why Putin’s Denunciations of Western Imperialism Ring Hollow Russia is among the world’s most ambitious imperial nations. For Opposition to Putin’s War, Look to the Fringes of His Empire The dirty secret of the Russian military is that long-conquered subjects are the Kremlin’s cannon fodder. Photo: Franz Roubaud/Museum of the History of Azerbaijan |
