During this virtual round table in partnership with Public Books, six French, Russian and American contributors question contemporary Russia and its often tense relations with the West.
With the Russian invasion of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, many Western commentators have predicted the advent of a new Cold War between the United States and Russia. At the same time, the Russian government and media deny any responsibility of their country in Ukraine and describe this expansion as a necessary measure, intended to ensure the protection of Russian-speaking Ukrainians. Everything is brought back to the historic struggle against fascism waged by theUSSR against the Nazis during World War II.
In the eyes of academics and commentators, we still lack too many conceptualization and analysis tools in the face of this situation. Dependent on disinformation and often misleading historical analogies, we lack the adequate vocabulary to describe the events shaking Russia today. This exceptional collaboration between Public Books, The Life of Ideas and its website in English Books & Ideas aims to generate new ways of thinking and conceiving contemporary Russia in its relations with Europe and USA.
One thing is certain: a geopolitical turning point is underway. For several years, Russia has adopted a resolutely anti-Western attitude, in order to reaffirm its importance on the world stage, and to weaken the power ofNATOof the USA and the European Union. At the beginning of 2014, the fall of the Yanukovych government in Ukraine marked a transfer of power of capital importance, within a region which constitutes a major strategic and symbolic issue for Russia. While theNATO began an expansion to the east, towards a Ukraine in the process of westernization, Vladimir Putin chose the path of secret military operations in order to maintain Russian influence. In the Russian media, Yanukovych’s overthrow was described as a fascist coup, an argument reinforced by the existence of a powerful Ukrainian neo-Nazi movement and the fact that the ex-president had come to power. democratically, through the ballot box.
If the Putin government officially protests against the rise of fascism in kyiv as throughout Europe, it has nevertheless forged links with the European extreme right for many years. Russia has also invested in vast communication campaigns intended to influence public opinion: the government now controls almost all national media, and is developing its influence abroad thanks to Russia Today and Sputnik.
Unsurprisingly, Russian military expansion is relayed by a nationalist ideology based on the notion of ethnicity, as well as by the strong return of the Orthodox Church in the life of the country. All accompanied by assaults on elements of civil society critical of Putin’s regime, increased state control over businesses and institutions, and the cleansing of ethnic and sexual minorities across Russia. Moreover, as Western sanctions began to weigh on the Russian economy, the image of an aggressor West made Putin more popular than ever at home.
There is therefore little hope of seeing this conflict ease, and even less of seeing a rapprochement with the West. How to describe this political and intellectual duel ? Without falling into the double trap of liberal triumphalism or anti-American ranting, how can we see the origins and consequences of the present conflict with a new eye? ? Even more, how did the ideologues of both camps contribute to exacerbating tensions, and how could we turn the page on this dispute? ? Finally, what are the issues? ? – for this American-Russian conflict, for the progressive disappearance of Russian civil society, for the apparent immobility of Western powers, and finally, for our analysis of these global confrontations representing a turning point.
The Life of Ideas and its parent site Books & Ideas are delighted to announce their second collaboration with their American partner Public Books. It will examine contemporary Russia by favoring the diversity of perspectives: political and economic on the one hand, but also social and cultural.
Our first pair of essays, written by French sociologist Carine Clément and by Eliot Borenstein, Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at NYUquestions the dominant political discourses in today’s Russia, between anti-Americanism and Putinism.
We also welcome, after the contributions of the Russian historian Katya Pravilova and the French philosopher Michel Eltchaninoff, those of the American anthropologist Monica Eppinger, and the French demographer Cécile Lefèvre.