Description
Book Synopsis
In the first book to trace the Russian state’s citizenship policy throughout its history, Lohr argues that to understand the citizenship dilemmas Russia faces today, we must return to the less xenophobic and isolationist pre-Stalin period—before the drive toward autarky after 1914 eventually sealed the state off from Europe.
Trade Review
Lohr tells a fascinating and important story. He traces the grand arc of Russian policy toward citizenship, which was characterized by a move toward globalization that accelerated in the 1860s, but was superseded by a shift toward autarky in the Soviet period.
Russian Citizenship will appeal to any reader interested in late imperial Russia, Russian law and international relations, nationality policy, and the Jewish question. A truly original book. -- Paul W. Werth, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
An extremely rich and thought-provoking book. Lohr's work will have a powerful impact upon the field of Russian history, and its arguments will feed into broader debates about citizenship, globalization, and the way in which Russian conceptions of membership in the state were or were not similar to those found across Europe. To my mind,
Russian Citizenship is unique: there is nothing like it any language. -- Dominic Lieven, London School of Economics
Lohr's fine study examines Russian citizenship across a broad time period, tracing both underlying similarities and important ruptures across nearly one hundred years. Ranging across the entire Russian empire, from the Russo-German border to the Far East, he examines the laws which framed citizenship, but probes beneath these laws to show how citizenship operated in practice. Fluidly written and deeply researched, this book will be of interest to historians of Russia and the Soviet Union, to historians of Europe more broadly, and to all interested in questions of citizenship and nationality. -- Peter Holquist, University of Pennsylvania
