Chasing Greatness
On Russia's Discursive Interaction with the West over the Past Millennium
Seiten
2024
The University of Michigan Press (Verlag)
978-0-472-07669-7 (ISBN)
The University of Michigan Press (Verlag)
978-0-472-07669-7 (ISBN)
How a millennia idealizing political greatness has affected Russia
Over the last two decades, it has become clear that Russia insists on its great power status, even at considerable cost. Chasing Greatness provides an interpretive explanation of the tacit rules that shape Russia's great power identity today. Anatoly Reshetnikov argues that this never-ending chase for greatness is a result of how Russia and its predecessors—including the USSR, Russian Empire, Muscovy, and Kievan Rus’—historically interacted with its neighbors to the east, the south, and particularly the west. By analyzing an extensive amount of original source material, including primary sources that have not been previously translated into English, he is able to reconstruct a millennial history of the Russian concepts that express political greatness. He also traces numerous encounters between Russia and the West, as well as Russia’s troubled integration into the European society of states in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to show how these concepts have affected Russia’s interaction with international society.
Despite its substantive historical depth, Chasing Greatness is not a book of history. Rather, it is a synthesizing social science work inspired by the continental tradition of the critical history of modernity. As such, the book is more about the present than about the past. Its main aim is to expose and explain the rich conceptual baggage behind Russia’s unceasing great power rhetoric (domestic and international) and how this rhetoric drives the current international crises involving Russia.
Over the last two decades, it has become clear that Russia insists on its great power status, even at considerable cost. Chasing Greatness provides an interpretive explanation of the tacit rules that shape Russia's great power identity today. Anatoly Reshetnikov argues that this never-ending chase for greatness is a result of how Russia and its predecessors—including the USSR, Russian Empire, Muscovy, and Kievan Rus’—historically interacted with its neighbors to the east, the south, and particularly the west. By analyzing an extensive amount of original source material, including primary sources that have not been previously translated into English, he is able to reconstruct a millennial history of the Russian concepts that express political greatness. He also traces numerous encounters between Russia and the West, as well as Russia’s troubled integration into the European society of states in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to show how these concepts have affected Russia’s interaction with international society.
Despite its substantive historical depth, Chasing Greatness is not a book of history. Rather, it is a synthesizing social science work inspired by the continental tradition of the critical history of modernity. As such, the book is more about the present than about the past. Its main aim is to expose and explain the rich conceptual baggage behind Russia’s unceasing great power rhetoric (domestic and international) and how this rhetoric drives the current international crises involving Russia.
Anatoly Reshetnikov is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Webster University.
Chapter 1 – Introduction: Great Power vs. Velikaya Derzhava
Chapter 2 – Absolute Greatness: Origins and Early Evolution
Chapter 3 – Theatrical Greatness: From Majesty to Glory
Chapter 4 – Troubled Encounter: Back to Absolute?
Chapter 5 – Failed Synthesis: Modernization through Self-Revelation
Chapter 6 – A World Apart: The Rise and Fall of International Socialist Greatness
Chapter 7 – Conclusion: Uses, Legacies, and Traps of Greatness in Post-Soviet Russia
Bibliography
| Erscheinungsdatum | 23.05.2024 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Configurations: Critical Studies of World Politics |
| Zusatzinfo | 3 figures |
| Verlagsort | Ann Arbor |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Themenwelt | Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Europäische / Internationale Politik |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-472-07669-8 / 0472076698 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-472-07669-7 / 9780472076697 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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