Description
Book SynopsisRussia is a great countryboth in terms of size and its achievements. It is the largest country in the world and, perhaps, the richest one as well, if one counts all its natural resources combined. The Russian population is well educated and its sciences and technology are quite advanced. It is also a country with political, legal, and economic systems similar to those in Western Europe and North America. What then prevents it from joining the community of Western democratic societies? What makes it always slide back into the habitual mode of authoritarianism, nationalism, and permeating corruption even when formal democratic institutions and structures are installed? Why does it stubbornly resist any attempts to promote democracy and liberalism? Is it because some curse hangs over the country and it always ends up in the hands of a bad government? The author of this book is convinced that the Russian government is just a derivative of the entire populationthe entire culture.
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Trade Review
Konstantin V. Kustanovich’s book is unique in its well-substantiated historical approach to the development of Russian culture. Going back to the beginnings of the centralized Moscow state in the fifteenth century and moving through the centuries to today’s reality, he convincingly establishes the continuity and persistency of such core cultural aspects as Russia’s peculiar kind of Christianity, collectivism, legal nihilism, and nationalism. He also connects these features of national culture to the way Russians perceive America. The book represents a valuable contribution to understanding Russian culture vis-à-vis the Western world. -- Andrei V. Korobkov, Middle Tennessee State University
This study is a perceptive ‘De Tocquevillian’ view of American and Russian cultures by a Russian scholar familiar with both countries, full of insights that deserve thoughtful consideration by American and Russian policymakers alike – with attention to latent considerations and provocative parallels, contemporary and historical which continue to bedevil efforts to find a common language and accommodations. -- William E. Butler, Pennsylvania State University
Table of Contents
Part I: Religion
Chapter 1: Spirituality and Education in Early Medieval Rus’
Chapter 2: Religious Culture in Muscovy: The Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries
Chapter 3: St. Petersburg: Development of Secular Culture
Chapter 4: Religion in Russia Today
Chapter 5: A Culture Oriented toward Expression: The Legacy
Part II: Russian Collectivism and the Work Ethic
Chapter 6: Historical Origins of the Russian Work Ethic
Chapter 7: Attitudes toward Work through the Eyes of Russian Literature
Part III: Legal Nihilism: The Tradition of Law and Morality in Russia
Chapter 8: A Case Study: Vitaly Kaloyev—A Murderer or a Hero?
Chapter 9: Concepts of Legal Nihilism in the Contemporary Russian Context
Chapter 10: Historical Roots of Russian Legal Nihilism
Chapter 11: Law in Contemporary Russia
Part IV: Perceptions and Reactions
Chapter 12: Russian Perceptions of America: Historical Perspective
Chapter 13: Individual Characteristics of Consciousness and Perception of a Foreign Culture
Chapter 14: Development of Individual Consciousness within National Culture
Chapter 15: Asymmetry in Russians’ Perception of America and Americans’ Perception of Russia
