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You can draw parallels between autocratic periods in Russian history, but then you lose everything that's interesting and end up with a kind of cartoon. Even i
by idlewords 10y ago
You can draw parallels between autocratic periods in Russian history, but then you lose everything that's interesting and end up with a kind of cartoon.
Even in Soviet times, when the ruling class was tied into the straitjacket of Marxist ideology, there were large shifts in foreign policy and attitude towards the outside world as different factions assumed power.
Russia has a complicated relationship with the West that is not well served by a simplistic reading of its history.
- woodandsteel 10y agoI think you are correct in that for a long time many in Russia looked to the West for culture and even political ideas. Unfortunately, Soviet communism's explicit goal was to overthrow liberalism, and Putin is hardly any more friendly.
- onetwotree 10y agoIt goes back and forth. There's a constant tension in Russia's history between the West and "East", used in this context to mean an essentially anti-western turn.
- onetwotree 10y agoI'm not really advocating a simplistic reading of Russia's history. There are broad themes that are very important to understanding it, and these are generally constant. Among them is the tension between looking inward and outward, which does, as you mention, swing back and forth over time. Another important theme is, of course, that the Enlightenment never made it out of the Hermitage.