Despite their conflicting interests and ideologies, every political affiliation across post-Soviet Europe blamed Russian war crimes on the Asian “other.”
Continue reading...Russian Liberals and the Kremlin: Racism and Colonialism as Common Ground, Part I
Anna GomboevaRussian liberals present themselves as “civilized Europeans” who would like to fix the “backward Asianness” of Russia. By drawing such Orientalist distinctions, these figures justify the existing colonial economic relationship between the wealthy “European” metropole and its impoverished, “Asiatic” provinces.
Continue reading...Are Sanctions on Russia Effective? How (Not) to Inform the Debate, Part II
Juliet JohnsonThe unprecedented nature of the current sanctions, both in terms of their scale and in terms of the economic size of the target state, makes it more challenging to extrapolate from prior experience.
Continue reading...Are Sanctions on Russia Effective? How (Not) to Inform the Debate, Part I
Juliet JohnsonAccording to many indicators, the Russian economy has bounced back from the initial hit of sanctions, thanks in large part to skillful financial policy and planning by the Russian central bank and finance ministry, as well as loopholes in the sanctions regime.
Continue reading...Destruction, Reconstruction, Belief: The 1837 Fire at the Winter Palace and its Aftermaths (A Paper in Verse)
Paul Werth‘Twas evening in St Petersburg
The days were very short
It happened in December
At the dwelling of the court.
The tsar was at the theater
When the news was brought to him
“The palace has gone up in flames!”
The news was very grim!
Civic Poetry and the Decembrist Revolt: Pushkin, Virtue Signaling, and Liberal Vibes
Emily WangThrough its effective use of language that went on to become a hallmark of its genre, Pushkin’s political verse helped shape a subgenre of civic poetry and was subsequently interpreted in the context of this broader corpus and its increasingly radical opposition to the state.
Continue reading...Cossack Education Becoming Further Institutionalized Across Russia’s Regions
Richard ArnoldRussia is going to great lengths to maintain its war effort in Ukraine without having to resort to another wave of mass mobilization. Military-adjacent structures, such as the Registered Cossacks, are becoming increasingly important as a source of recruits for the Russian army. Cossack education plays a central role in this process, ensuring the indoctrination of Russian society for a long war in Ukraine and physical preparedness for future conflicts.
Continue reading...“Daddy, Read!”: Ukrainian Children’s Writer, Father, and Fallen Hero Volodymyr Vakulenko
Anastassiya AndrianovaFearing that his time was up and committed to making public the war crimes of those flying the letter “Z,” Vakulenko buried his secret diary under the cherry saplings in his yard and asked his father to share it with the international community once the village was liberated.
Continue reading...For Victory in Freedom: Why Ukrainian Resilience to Russian Aggression Endures, Part II
Mikhhail Alexseev and Serhii DembitskyiThe increasing toll of the war has not dampened Ukrainians’ support for political freedom. In fact, it appears that this suffering has engendered a clearer understanding of the importance of continued fighting by building a sense of shared sacrifice and raising the value of political freedom.
Continue reading...For Victory in Freedom: Why Ukrainian Resilience to Russian Aggression Endures, Part I
Mikhhail Alexseev and Serhii DembitskyiNot only does the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians remain resolute in its commitment to driving Russia out of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory, but this commitment is strongly fused with a determination to be a healthy, thriving democracy and to honor and avenge their devastating shared losses and sacrifices.
Continue reading...Dnipro. Writing and Reading the City’s Biography in a Time of War
Andrii PortnovMy book, “Dnipro. An Entangled History of a European City,” was published a year ago, in the middle of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war. I neither expected nor wanted such a political context for my book.
Continue reading...All Blushes of Autumn: Russia’s Evolving “Red Lines” in the War on Ukraine, Part II
Polina SinovetsHas the West has already crossed Russia’s red lines? This possibility is unlikely: If Russia’s red lines had been crossed, then Russia would have escalated the conflict.
Continue reading...All Blushes of Autumn: Russia’s Evolving “Red Lines” in the War on Ukraine, Part I
Polina SinovetsBy 2023, the West had discovered that neither increasing the supply of weapons to Ukraine nor Moscow’s loss of annexed territories had prompted any serious response from Russia—as if its so-called red lines were shifting or were not actually there at all.
Continue reading...Call for Submissions: 2024 Graduate Student Essay Competition
The Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of RussiaThe Blog of the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia is pleased to announce our annual Graduate Student Essay Competition for 2024. Enter for a chance to get published on the blog and win cash prizes.
We invite 750-1200 word submissions from full- or part-time M.A. and Ph.D. students from any accredited academic institution in the United States, on any topic and sub-discipline within Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, broadly defined. Cultural criticism; opinion pieces; public-facing treatments of scholarly work; political analysis; book, film, or event reviews; and more are welcome.
All submissions must be in English and observe the blog’s submission guidelines and full competition rules.
Essays are due no later than Friday, 15 March 2024 at 11:59 PM EST, and must be submitted via this Google form.
Seven winners will be selected based on the originality, clarity, and argumentation of their essays, as well as general fit with the blog’s tone and interests as reflected in the submission guidelines linked above. An interdisciplinary panel of judges will select three Grand Prize winners representing history, cultural studies, and the social sciences, each of whom will receive a $500 prize. Four additional Judges’ Choice submissions will receive $200 each. All winners will have their essays published in the Jordan Center Blog.
Competition results will be announced in Summer 2024.
Please note that, for legal reasons around international contest rules, we are unfortunately unable to provide monetary awards to those located outside the US. Regrettably, we must therefore restrict competition for monetary prizes to graduate students of any nationality currently located within the US. Those outside the US, including US citizens and visa holders and those studying at US institutions but currently based abroad, are ineligible for the contest. Outside the bounds of the contest, we welcome submissions from anyone interested in being published on the Blog, regardless of citizenship, national origin, or location. As always, thank you for your interest in the Jordan Center Blog.
Please direct any questions to Jordan.Center.Blog@nyu.edu.
Ideas That Plague Us: Reading “Crime and Punishment” as a Pandemic Narrative, Part II
Irina ErmanIt is ironic that Raskolnikov justifies selecting the old woman as his victim because she is economically unproductive and sick. Raskolnikov is himself perpetually ill, does not work, and relies on charity from the women in his life: his landlady, his landlady’s servant Nastasya, his mother, his sister, and later Sonya.
Continue reading...Ideas That Plague Us: Reading “Crime and Punishment” as a Pandemic Narrative, Part I
Irina ErmanThe motif of illness runs through Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” and accompanies key developments and themes—so much so that the novel can be read as a pandemic or plague narrative.
Continue reading...Change and Continuity in Moscow’s Views of Islamism after the Cold War
Vassily KlimentovThe influence of Soviet-era views of Islam and Islamism among post-Soviet elites was striking.
Continue reading...The 1990 Revolution on Granite as Ukraine’s New Beginning
Paulina CodogniThe Revolution on Granite was significant for two reasons. First, it was a major milestone on the road to Ukrainian independence, or even a starting point for aspirations of independence. Second, it became a prototype for subsequent Ukrainian revolutions and a precursor to future events set on the Maidan—first in 2004 and again in 2013-2014.
Continue reading...Why Talk About Regional Leadership in a Time of War?
Irina BusyginaWill a major power always hurt smaller nations simply because it can and wants to, ignoring all rules and obligations? Or will the major power, despite having the option of simply dominating and ignoring international conventions, nonetheless commit to credibility and build a more complex relationship with smaller nations that are ultimately beneficial to both sides?
Continue reading...Demographic Messaging in Russian Television Films After 2008: “I Am Happy” (2010) and “The Millionaire” (2012)
Miriam WhitingThe stories in many of the films produced after the 2007-2008 financial crisis were drastically different from those in pre-crisis films. Instead of the heroine ending up with a businessman in a Moscow high-rise, she now finds happiness in a humble apartment with a blue-collar or underpaid white-collar husband (a retired military officer or a policeman is even better) and a child or two, ideally with another on the way.
Continue reading...