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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