Description
Book Synopsis From the end of the Mongol Empire to today, Russian history is a tale of cultural, political, economic and military interaction with Western powers. The depth of this relationship has created a geopolitical dilemma: Russia has persistently been both attracted to and at odds with Western ideas and technological development, which have tended to threaten Russia''s sense of identity and create destabilizing divisions within society.
Simultaneously, deepening involvement in Western international affairs brought meddling in Russian domestic politics and military invasion. This book examines how the centuries-old Western threat has shaped Russia''s political and strategic structures, creating a culture of security rooted in vigilance against Western influence and interference.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction. Aspiring to Foes: Russia's "Constitutive Other" and Security-Vigilance Norm
- Cycle I: 1505–1620s
- Chapter 1. From Religious to Political Others: Muscovite Russia's First Western Encounters
- Chapter 2. The Smuta and the Birth of Russia's Security Norm
- Cycle II: 1630–1825
- Chapter 3. From Smuta to Early Enlightenment and Schism
- Chapter 4. Peter the Great and the Great Dislocation
- Chapter 5. Europeanization and Dislocation in the 18th Century
- Chapter 6. Russia's Security Dilemma Manifest
- Cycle III: 1826–1922
- Chapter 7. Cursed Solutions: Reactionary Reconstitution and Reformist Displacement
- Chapter 8. Devils: West and East
- Chapter 9. The Whirlwind: Russian February–German October
- Cycle IV: 1922–2008
- Chapter 10. The Devils in Power: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Vigilantism
- Chapter 11. From "Common European Home" to the Eurasian Alternative
- Conclusion. The Russian Dilemma and Security Norm
- Chapter Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
