Russia’s Historical Legacy: Part I

Central Russia

Volga River

Southern Russia

Russia’s prairies: The Steppe

Russia’s Black Sea coast

The Russian Caucasus: Mount Elbrus

Siberian taiga

Russian winter

The Russian Arctic

Altai Mountains: foothills of the Himalayas

The Russian Far East: Kamchatka Peninsula

Russia’s Pacific Coast

Russia’s Pacific Coast

Moscow Kremlin Moscow, Kremlin: the center of Russian state power

St. Petersburg, Russia’s “second capital”

The State Emblem of the Russian Federation

Russia’s major assets

Territory – size and position Natural resources Transportation networks Industrial base Science and education Nuclear weapons Space program

7th largest economy, expected to become No.5 within a decade

1/3 or more of global natural resources A nuclear superpower A space superpower A permanent member of UNSC A member of G8 A key international actor across Eurasia (involved

in more international organizations and projects than any other state except US)

Security-development ratios

Costs of development and security: four basic modes of interaction

D-costs high, S-costs high (Russia) D-costs low, S-costs low (USA, Canada) D-costs high, S-costs low (Scandinavia) D-costs low, S-costs high (?)

Russia is 1,200 years old It has existed in 6 historical forms:

Kiev Rus (9th-13th centuries) Domain of the Tatar-Mongol empire (13th-15th centuries) The Moscow State (15th-17th centuries) The Russian Empire (18th century-1917) The Soviet Union (1917-1991) The Russian Federation (1991- today)

Key questions re Russia’s historical legacy: State-society relations: patterns and balances Forms of state authority The state’s role in the economy Role of civil society institutions: market economy,

religion, rule of law Role of ideology Freedom and order

RUSSIA 1 Kiev Rus The Slavic-Viking project

Slav migrations: 5th-7th centuries

Viking longboats on their way south across Slavic lands to Constantinople

A Viking-Slav encounter, painting by V. Vasnetsov

Kiev Rus

Riurik, a Viking chief, the first Grand Prince of Kiev (9th century)

Russia’s medieval democracy: veche, the city assembly

Contact with the Eastern Roman Empire: Constantinople, 10th century

The Second Rome: Hagia Sophia Cathedral, Constantinople

The baptism of Prince Vladimir (painting by M Vasnetsov)

988 CE: Russians are converted to the new faith

Destruction of pagan gods

“The Golden- Haired Saviour”

(Russian icon, 13th century)

Power patterns in Russia 1 Kiev Rus became a major European state in a century Security costs moderate Development costs moderate Balance between state and society A robust market economy Democratic political institutions A state church sharing power with the Grand Prince

Key flaw: Feudal fragmentation, constant struggles for power among proliferating princes

Vulnerability to massive invasions