Suchergebnisse

This article suggests that, nearly fifteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the field of Russian studies in the US is quietly, but inexorably, sliding into crisis, as the last generation of academic specialists trained & hired in the Soviet period is rapidly reaching retirement age, & universities are not hiring new Russia specialists at a rate that will replace them. It is argued that three separate developments since 1991 have combined to weaken the field of Russian studies: dwindling attention by policymakers to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union & the rise of new threats elsewhere in the Islamic world; attacks on the intellectual respectability of "area studies" at leading academic institutions & foundations; & the emergence of widespread popular stereotypes about Russia as backward, criminal, & irrelevant to world affairs. These developments are each explored in turn. The analysis then turns to three questions: Why should we care about Russia? Why don't we care about Russia? What is to be done about this situation? Finally, a call to action concludes the article. T. K. Brown

This introductory article explains how the concept of biopolitics can be used as an analytical tool in the sphere of Russian studies. The author elucidates different approaches to the idea of biopolitics in contemporary political philosophy, and relates the extant theoretical debate to the ongoing political and academic discussions on power and identity in Russia, both from domestic and international perspectives. He claims that biopolitical vocabulary is a nuanced cognitive instrument for unpacking a plethora of social and cultural dimensions inherent to relations of power, and further conceptualizing the specificity of post-Soviet illiberal regimes.

Accused of having failed to predict the fall of communism, Russian studies after 1991 has struggled to redefine its identity and to adapt to the challenge of a more open field. Do the skills honed to understand an essentially closed system remain relevant for the study of a dynamically changing society committed to international political and economic integration? Do area studies have a future or should Soviet and post-Soviet analysis become part of comparative politics and transition studies? Is there something unique about Russian studies, and if so, what language can we use to describe this essential 'difference'? Russian studies has now been 'normalised', integrated into the mainstream social science disciplines, but there remains the danger that this might be at the price of losing some sensitivity to factors that make Russia 'Russia'.